


The Mystery Girl

by Hawkerin



Series: Family Timelines [7]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Rewrite, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-06 20:19:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 101,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5429459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkerin/pseuds/Hawkerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor, Rose, and Jamie figured out who River is and saved her life.  Now, can they figure out who this new mystery girl is?  Rewrite of season seven in my Family Timelines Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the next installment of my Family Timelines Series!! I've got plans!!! I really hope they all work out and I hope you like them. Please leave me reviews, I really appreciate the feedback.

Chapter One: The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

 

 

"Alright, love, we are getting out of here," the Doctor told Rose as he pushed her into a tiny, one person escape pod.

 

"Yes, we. So why aren't you getting in here with me?" she argued while he tightened the harness over her shoulders securely.

 

"An extra person in there would throw off the balance. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you. I promise," he assured her as he held up a space suit. "Impact suit. It will protect me from the fall and fix anything that might happen as well."

 

"Intruder alert," the computer on the ship announced.

 

"As soon as I let go of this button, the ship is going to explode. That's good, because it means they can't attack Earth, but it also means we need to get out of here rather quickly, so," he paused to give her a quick kiss and pulled the top of the pod down to seal it. "Out you go!" he shouted and pushed the little pod out of the airlock next to him.

 

The computer continued to announce the intruder alert as he held tight to the impact suit and dove out of the airlock himself, tossing the detonation device over his shoulder. The ship behind him began to explode as he wrestled with the space suit through the vacuum, frantically trying to get it on before he hit the atmosphere and started to burn. Very thankful for his respiratory bypass, he somehow managed to get it sealed, but couldn't see a thing as he plummeted to Earth after his wife's escape pod.

 

Rose felt very strongly the landing of her little pod, but when she hit the button to release the door, it didn't work. She started pounding on the door from the inside, shouting, “Hello? Is there anyone out there?” Not getting an answer, she thought to her husband, _“The door won't open. I'm stuck in here. Are you alright?”_

 

The Doctor tried to calm himself a bit before responding, despite the fact that the ground was approaching rather quickly.  _“Just fine, love, I'll be down in a few seconds.”_

 

He hit the ground with a rather loud crash and likely left a large hole, but he couldn't really tell because he couldn't see anything.

 

“Hello? Hello? Hello, are you all right?” a woman's voice called nearby.

 

“Ow,” he managed to reply.

 

“Are you hurt? Did you fall? Where did you fall from?” she asked confusedly.

 

“Helmet,” he requested, hoping to regain his sight and try to find his wife, who was still stuck in her escape pod.

 

“Alright, just, just let me. I don't want to hurt you,” she told him as she helped him up out of the small crater and lifted the visor of the helmet. The now transparent section, however, only showed a mess of brown hair on the back of his head. “Oh,” she gasped.

 

“I can't see. I'm blind!” he shouted in a panic.

 

“Oh no, love, no. I think you've just got your helmet on backwards. How did you manage that?” she wondered.

 

“I got dressed in a hurry. Don't suppose you've seen an escape pod landing around here? Kind of like a large, metal, egg shaped thing,” he wondered.

 

“Why yes. I did see something like that just over the other side of the park. Is that yours?” she asked, leading him in that direction.

 

“Well, not exactly, but my wife is inside it and I need to help her get out. Then, I don't suppose you could help me into town to find a police box?” he replied.

 

“Alright, just give me a moment and I'll borrow the neighbour's car. Can't have you tripping all the way to town,” she told him and she disappeared for a few minutes.

 

“ _Found a very nice lady who is helping me. Be there soon. Have you tried using your sonic to get it open?”_ he informed his wife.

 

“ _Of course I did. I think the latch got mangled in the landing,”_ she responded with a mental sigh.

 

It was awkward, but once the woman took him to find the escape pod, they had to lift it together into the car and bring it with them into town.

 

“Ow! Did we just bump into something?” the Doctor asked when he felt the car jolt rather abruptly.

 

“No, no,” she assured him.

 

“We seem to bump into quite a lot of things,” he insisted through his backward helmet.

 

“Well, a lot of things get in the way. It's hardly my fault. You need to take that silly thing off,” the woman told him.

 

“Can't. Impact suit. It's still repairing me,” he replied.

 

“Repairing you?” she questioned, helping him out of the car before they both lifted the pod once again and placed it on the ground next to the police box where she had parked.

 

“Yeah, well, you know, that's the idea,” he told her.

 

“Won't it repair you all back to front?” she wondered, seemingly not bothered by the idea of a suit that could do that despite it being the 1930s.

 

“No. No,” he assured her, not entirely positive, but hoping that it wouldn't. Shouldn't do that, anyway.

 

“Well, that's good. Oh, that's a street lamp,” she informed him after he bumped into it rather painfully.

 

“Yes, I got that impression,” he responded with a groan.

 

“Round this way. Don't you want me to take you to hospital or something? You're welcome to come to our house,” she told him.

 

“No, no, no. We're fine. I just need to find the, er, the key,” he told her as he realized that his pockets were inside the impact suit and his wife's key was trapped in the escape pod with her.

 

“Do you want me to do it with a pin? I'm good with a pin,” she said, taking a pin from her hair and trying to jimmy the lock.

 

“Multi-dimensional, triple encoded temporal interface. Not really susceptible to pointy things,” he informed her.

 

“Got it,” she cried as the lock clicked open.

 

“Okay. Suddenly the last nine hundred years of time travel seem that bit less secure. Thank you for taking care of us. You didn't have to, you know. You've been very kind,” he thanked her.

 

“Oh, don't be silly. It's Christmas Eve. All in the holiday spirit at Christmas,” she replied.

 

“What did you say your name was?” he asked, remembering that his wife said it was good to acknowledge people by name for their kindness.

 

“Madge. Madge Arwell,” she answered.

 

“If there's anything that I can do for you, let me know,” he promised.

 

“How?” she wondered.

 

“I don't know. Make a wish. That usually works,” he thought, or it did sometimes anyway.

 

“Does it?”

 

“It did for me. You're here, aren't you? Well, don't wait around here. Just off you go home. I'll just go and, and wait inside here,” he told her, starting to drag the pod next to him towards the doors of the police box, but quickly found that he bumped into the back of the wrong box. “Ow! Wrong one. Do you think we could try again?”

 

It took them a bit, but they eventually did find the right police box and the Doctor was reminded by his wife that he should be able to snap his fingers to get the doors open if he couldn't find his key. His hands seemed to be fully repaired, so he managed to get one of the gloves off and get the TARDIS open before Madge finally left them.

 

Once the TARDIS assured him that he was fine, he removed the impact suit and began working on opening the pod. Rose breathed a sigh of relief when the hatch finally opened and she got some fresh air again. The air recycler in the pod wasn't meant to be used for so long after landing and it was getting a bit stale in there.

 

“Oh, thank you, love. It was getting a bit stuffy in there,” she sighed and stretched her legs. “We ought to see if there's something we can do for that woman. What was her name?”

 

“Madge Arwell,” he replied, already typing her name into the TARDIS computer to check on her timeline. What showed up was a painful telegram sent to her three years in the future. It told her that her husband's plane had gone missing over the English Channel just before Christmas. Rose looked at the monitor over his shoulder.

 

“Oh no!” she gasped. She could see from the information the time ship provided that they had two children and the idea that they would spend their holiday without their father broke her heart. “There must be something we can do to help out a little.”

 

“I've got an idea,” he told her as he checked on a few details and piloted the ship to a new destination.

 

The Doctor explained to his wife that Madge and her children, Cyril and Lily, would be spending their holiday here because it was a much safer area. The house belonged to the children's uncle who was now living in a seniors' home. They sent the caretaker of the property on vacation for Christmas and got to work making things extra special for the sad little family.

 

They heard a loud knocking coming from the front door and ran to answer it together. They held each other's hand tightly as they descended the large staircase together, hoping to make the children's Christmas just a little bit better.

 

“Mister Cardew!” Madge called from outside.

 

“That was the caretaker's name, yeah?” Rose asked.

 

“Yes,” the Doctor answered as he unbolted the door.

 

“Father!” the children cried.

 

Rose gasped as she realized that the kids didn't know about their father yet and were expecting to see him here.

 

“Sorry, it's the door. It's developed a fault,” the Doctor shouted as he wrestled with the stuck door.

 

“Oh, hello? Mister Cardew?” Madge responded.

 

The Doctor and Rose finally managed to get the door open, but pulled it off its hinges in the process. He threw it aside as if he had intended to do that all along and greeted the family, “There we go. Well, come in. In you come. Mind your step. Now, don't worry. The back door is still, broadly speaking, operational.”

 

Rose picked up the broken door and placed it back where it belonged before quickly sonicking the hinges back in place.

 

“Right then, may I take your cases?” the Doctor offered.

 

“Thank you,” the three of them said as they handed them towards him.

 

 

“Lovely. Would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round,” he told them and spun around to run up the staircase.

 

Rose rolled her eyes at her oblivious husband and grabbed their suitcases to help get them upstairs.

 

“Oh no, wait! Who are you?” Madge questioned, clearly expecting someone else.

 

“I'm the caretaker and this is my wife, Rose,” the Doctor answered.

 

“But you're not Mister Cardew,” she argued.

 

“I agree.”

 

“I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?” Madge wondered, thinking that she would have been informed if there had been a change like that.

 

The Doctor deflected the question a little bit by telling her, “Usually called the Doctor. Or the Caretaker or Get Off This Planet. Though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name. Hello, Madge Arwell.”

 

“Hello,” she responded hesitantly.

 

“Cyril and Lily, welcome,” Rose greeted with a smile.

 

“Now, come on, come on. Lots to see. Whistle stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions,” the Doctor rambled quickly as he led them all through the house. He had added several completely impossible for this time period things. The furniture moved around on its own, he had added a lemonade faucet in the kitchen, and so on.

 

“We sleep up there. Stay away. Beware of panthers,” the Doctor rambled as they passed the staircase leading up to the attic space where they had parked the TARDIS.

 

“Panthers?” Lily questioned disbelievingly.

 

“They're terrifying. Have you never seen panthers? Cyril!” the Doctor responded, calling the young boy away from where he was trying to creep past them.

 

“Mum's bedroom. Grown up. Your basic boring,” the Doctor told them as he showed them all the master bedroom.

 

“Oi! I decorated in here, thank you!” Rose protested.

 

“It looks lovely,” Madge assured her, but the Doctor had already pulled the children down the hall towards their room.

 

“Lily and Cyril's room. I'm going to be honest, masterpiece. The ultimate bedroom. A sciencey-wiencey workbench. A jungle. A maze. A window disguised as a mirror. A mirror disguised as a window. Selection of torches for midnight feasts and secret reading. Zen garden, mysterious cupboard, zone of tranquillity, rubber wall, dream tank, exact model of the rest of the house, not quite to scale. Apologies. Dolls with comical expressions, the Magna Carta, a foot spa, Cluedo, a yellow fort,” the Doctor listed excitedly as he dashed about the room to show them everything he had included.

 

“And bunk beds,” Rose interrupted, making the Doctor frown comically. “Come on, love, you said that a bed with a ladder was cool.”

 

“Yes, but I wanted to give them hammocks,” he pouted.

 

“Bunk beds are perfectly cool, and probably safer,” Rose insisted.

 

The children both giggled and ran to bounce excitedly on the beds.

 

“For God's sake!” Madge shouted, clearly irritated by the whole situation. She was upset and rightfully felt that everyone else should be as well, but since she hadn't told the children about their father yet, they had no reason not to enjoy the silliness around them. “Can you please stop talking? Can you please just stop!” Madge complained angrily.

 

“Sorry,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Children, go downstairs,” Madge instructed.

 

“Why?” Lily asked.

 

“Are we leaving?” Cyril wondered.

 

“Yes. No. I don't know. Just please go downstairs!” Madge told them, closing her eyes as she tried to get a hold of her emotional state.

 

“You don't need to shout,” Lily grumbled as she led her brother out of the room and back downstairs.

 

“Why are you doing all this?” Madge asked them pointedly.

 

“I'm just trying to take care of things. I'm the caretaker,” the Doctor answered.

 

“That's not what caretakers do,” Madge pointed out.

 

“Then why are they called caretakers?” he wondered confusedly.

 

“We just want to give you all a really nice Christmas,” Rose assured her.

 

“Their father's dead,” Madge informed them bluntly.

 

“I'm sorry,” the Doctor responded.

 

“We're both terribly sorry,” Rose added.

 

“Lily and Cyril's father, my husband, is dead and they don't know yet, because if I tell them now, then Christmas will always be what took their father away from them, and no one should have to live like that. Of course, when the Christmas period is over, I shall. I don't know why I keep shouting at them,” Madge told them, finally letting out what she had been bottling up from everyone. Rose put her arm around the woman's shoulders in support.

 

“Because very time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be, and it breaks your heart,” the Doctor said, knowing how painful it was to lose someone you cared deeply about.

 

“Mother, come and see!” Lily shouted from the main floor.

 

“Mother! You've got to see this!” Cyril echoed.

 

“Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later?” the Doctor continued.

 

“Mother,” Cyril called.

 

“Mother, are you coming?” Lily insisted.

 

“The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later. Now, we'd better get downstairs. I think they may have found the main sitting room. I repaired it,” the Doctor concluded and Rose guided the woman down to where her children were still calling to her.

 

In the main sitting room, there was an enormous Christmas tree. It was decorated with hundreds of lights, decorations, tinsel and even a rotating aeroplane flying around it. Beneath the tree was a present wrapped in silver and white paper, with a huge bow on top. The box was large enough to fit the whole family inside of it and the children were bouncing around it excitedly.

 

“I know,” the Doctor beamed again as Madge looked at him expectantly.

 

“Look at that present. It's for me,” Cyril told his mother.

 

“No, it says it's for all of us,” Lily corrected him.

 

“I'm the youngest. I get to open it first,” he argued.

 

“Doesn't say who it's from. Mother, who left this here?” Lily questioned.

 

Madge looked back to where the mysterious couple had been, but didn't see them. “That man is quite ridiculous. You must stay away from him,” she instructed firmly.

 

“I like him and his wife,” Lily told her.

 

“I like them, too,” Cyril added.

 

“And it's a nice tree, isn't it?” Lily prompted, hoping to cheer up her mother a little.

 

“It's the best tree in the world,” Cyril cheered.

 

“Yes. Yes, I suppose it is,” Madge admitted as she looked at the beautiful decorations.

 

“Say it, Mother. Go on, please. Say the thing you always say,” Cyril pleaded.

 

“This Christmas is going to be the best Christmas ever,” she responded, hugging both of them tightly.

 

Rose and the Doctor smiled at each other where they stood around the corner to listen. Madge seemed to be almost ready to accept the gift they were trying to give her and her children, but knew it would be hard for her. They might have to be content with giving the children the best Christmas possible, since the weight of the news Madge needed to tell them afterward would be hanging over her the whole time.

 

“Let's go upstairs, love. Give them some time to settle in,” Rose suggested. He took her hand as they walked back up to the TARDIS.

 

 


	2. The Wolf, The Widow, and the Wardrobe - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I'm hoping to get this finished before xmas. It seems appropriate to have a xmas story done in time for it, so I'll do my best. It's tricky while the kids are home though since they're on the computer all the time.

Chapter Two: The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe - Part Two

 

 

“Do you really think they'll like it?” the Doctor asked Rose as they worked together on rewiring the randomizer controls. For the last few months, it had been taking them underwater every time they hit it, so it was time to fix it while they waited for their little surprise.

 

“They'll love it. We always had a wonderful time whenever we took Jamie there,” Rose assured him.

 

They both turned quickly when they heard the floor squeak by the doorway.

 

“You were lying about the panthers,” Lily accused.

 

“Famous last words,” the Doctor countered.

 

“What are you doing up, sweetheart?” Rose asked the young girl.

 

“Why have you got a phone box in your room?” Lily asked, avoiding the topic of being out of bed.

 

“It's not a phone box, it's our wardrobe. I've just painted it to look like a phone box,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Well, what are you doing?” Lily questioned, not entirely believing him.

 

“Rewiring,” he replied quickly, not really wanting to lie, but definitely not able to tell her the complete truth.

 

“Why would you rewire a wardrobe?” she wondered.

 

“Have you seen the way he dresses?” Rose interrupted.

 

“Oi!” he protested.

 

“Who are you two? Really, who are you?” the girl asked.

 

Rose and the Doctor were distracted by an alarm going off beside them.

 

“Your brother, where is he?” the Doctor demanded worriedly.

 

“Still in bed, asleep,” she whispered.

 

“Okay. Faulty, then,” the Doctor said, tapping the little alarm against his hand, but it went off again as he watched it. “You're sure he's still in bed?”

 

They followed her back to her room and she cracked open the door to look inside. The three of them quietly went to Cyril's bunk. There appeared to be someone sleeping there, but as Rose and the Doctor were both parents and accomplished troublemakers, they knew that looks could be deceiving.

 

“See?” Lily whispered, gesturing to her apparently sleeping brother.

 

“Shush,” he told her as he pulled back the covers to reveal a large teddy bear. “Oh, he's good. The old bear and duvet, eh? Classic.”

 

“He definitely shouldn't be out there alone at night,” Rose told her husband and they all dashed down the stairs.

 

Just as the trio made it to the sitting room, they saw Cyril's arm disappear into the large present box with a torch. The box was on its side, the lid tossed across the room and there was a faint glow coming from inside.

 

“Cyril!” the Doctor shouted as he dove, head-first into the box.

 

“What's happening? I hope,” Lily began, but was struck dumb by the sight of the box. “ What is that?”

 

“With me. Quickly, come on,” the Doctor told her as he pulled her inside with him. “Stay here, love, in case he comes back.”

 

The Doctor and Lily were standing in a snowy forest at night. There were large evergreen trees all around them and small footprints leading off in the snow.

 

“That's it. In you come. Brr, bit cold. Never mind. Cyril! Cyril!” he called after helping Lily through the portal. He searched around the area and discovered the open shell of what appeared to be a large, silver egg.

 

“Where are we?” Lily asked nervously.

 

“In a forest, in a box, in a sitting room. Pay attention. He's about twenty minutes ahead,” he told her distractedly as he examined the inside of the egg.

 

“But we just saw him,” she argued.

 

“Time moves differently across the dimensional planes. What do they teach you in schools these days?” he responded, indignant that she wouldn't understand what he considered to be basic fundamental knowledge.

 

“But I don't understand where we are,” she told him nervously. Her mother had told them to stay away from him.

 

“We've gone through a dimensional portal... thingy,” he said trying to simplify the situation for her.

 

“Well, what's that supposed to be? Where did it come from?” she asked wondering how such a thing could have ended up in their sitting room where her brother could stumble across it.

 

“It was a present, and it wasn't supposed to be opened till Christmas Day. Honestly, who opens their Christmas presents early?” he asked rhetorically as he shone his torch in her face and she smiled sheepishly. “Okay. Shut up. Everyone,” he whispered and followed the footprints into the forest with Lily right behind him.

 

“I don't understand. Is this place real, or is it a fairyland?” Lily questioned, thinking this whole situation was like a story from a book.

 

“Fairyland? Oh, grow up, Lily. Fairyland looks completely different. Now, these are Cyril's footprints, and these are the ones he was following. Notice anything?” he asked her as the two of them studied the tracks in the snow.

 

“The other footprints are getting bigger,” she replied, getting even more worried about her missing brother. The man's wife said that Cyril shouldn't be out here alone.

 

“Yes. Whatever your brother's following, it's growing,” the Doctor realized.

 

“Well, we have to get after him,” she shouted and ran in the direction of the footprints. She brushed the side of one of the trees. In response, the tree suddenly grew several silver baubles, hanging from what looked like ice. Lily stopped and stared at them fearfully.

 

“It's okay, you're fine. Don't worry,” he assured her as he moved forward to admire the shiny things.

 

“Is that tree alive?” she asked timidly.

 

“Of course it's alive. It's a tree,” he replied, sure that she just hadn't thought about the fact that plants are alive, even if they aren't usually sentient.

 

“But is it dangerous?” she questioned, approaching the tree again.

 

“Every rose has its thorns,” he admitted.

 

“They're like Christmas tree decorations,” she said with a smile as she looked at one of them more closely.

 

“Yeah. Naturally occurring Christmas trees. How cool is that?” he beamed, still proud of his idea of a present for the children, even if it wasn't working out exactly as planned.

 

“I don't understand,” Lily told him.

 

“It's a big universe. Everything happens somewhere. Call it a coincidence. Call it an idea echoing among the stars. Personally, I call it a brilliant idea for a Christmas trip. Or it should've been,” the Doctor paused in his explanation as he heard a whispering sound all around them on the breeze. “Do you know the difference between wind and trees talking to each other?”

 

“What?” she asked, becoming more nervous as she watched him grow concerned.

 

The Doctor stuck his index finger into his mouth and held it up to gauge the wind around them and found the air to be completely calm. “No wind. I've been here many times, but I've never heard the trees so active. Something's wrong. What are you doing? What are you up to?” he asked the trees around them. Looking closely at the silver ball on the tree, his reflection turned from one of himself to the image of a wooden face.

 

The Doctor switched his torch for his sonic screwdriver and took Lily's hand. It was bad enough with one missing child, he couldn't risk losing the other.

 

“I'm sorry, Lily, I really am, but there is something very wrong in this forest, and your brother's right in the middle of it.”

 

################

 

Back in the sitting room, Rose was waiting anxiously. She knew that the Christmas Tree planet in the Androzani System was generally quite safe, but a little boy definitely shouldn't be out there by himself at night. It was cold and he might get lost. They certainly didn't want him to end up with frostbite or something.

 

“Lily and Cyril Arwell, where are you?” Madge called as she stormed downstairs. She entered the sitting room and gaped at the open box on the floor.

 

“I can explain, Madge, I swear. It was just supposed to be a special surprise for them in the morning, but Cyril opened it early and wandered off. The Doctor and Lily have gone looking for him, but he'll be fine, I promise,” Rose told her, knowing how she would feel if Jamie had disappeared and wasn't used to this kind of life with the Doctor.

 

“What do you mean, he wandered off?” she asked, still staring at the strange light coming from inside the box.

 

“I know it's hard to believe, but the box is a portal to a lovely place that the Doctor and I liked to take our son to when he was little. They've got Christmas trees there that grow their own decorations! It's a really lovely place, but a bit cold for a little boy to go and get himself lost in the middle of the night, so, hang on a minute,” Rose told her and got a bit concerned when Madge got a determined look on her face and headed for the box.

 

“I'm not going to just sit here and wait,” she protested.

 

“Alright, fine, I understand. Let's at least make sure that we're both dressed for the snow,” Rose insisted.

 

Both wearing warm boots, hats, and gloves, Rose and Madge climbed through the portal and into the snowy forest to follow the others.

 

##########################

 

“Why would you bring us to this place?” Lily asked, wondering why he thought this would be a good Christmas trip.

 

“It was supposed to be a treat. Rose and I used to take our son here all the time. This is one of the safest planets I know. There's never anything dangerous here,” he assured her.

 

There was an ominous rumbling in the ground just then that made him comment, “There are sentences I should just keep away from.” He thought to his wife, _“There may be a slight complication, love.”_

 

##########################

 

“ _I gathered that, yes. Madge decided that she needed to go looking for the children herself. I came with her to try and keep her as safe as possible out here,”_ Rose thought back to him and felt his worry about her safety. She rolled her eyes at his usual overprotectiveness. Honestly, they'd been doing this sort of thing for centuries now.

 

“This tree farm is private property. You are trespassing,” came the sound of an authoritative voice through the trees as bright lights began to shine nearby. Three people in futuristic, but very dirty, protective equipment approached them. One of them scanned the pair of women with his handheld device. All three of them had rather fierce looking guns pointed in their direction.

 

“Unarmed, sir,” he reported to the other.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” the one who was apparently in charge questioned harshly.

 

“No, wait, armed! No, unarmed. Sorry, sir. She's wearing wool, sir. The natural fabrics, they interfere with the...” he explained as his device continued beeping at him.

 

“Please say we can tell the difference between wool and side arms,” he grumbled.

 

“We can tell the difference, sir,” he responded obediently.

 

“Can we?” he asked, needing the truth.

 

“Not always, sir, no,” the other admitted.

 

“What are you doing here? Do you understand what is about to happen in this forest?” the leader demanded of the women, trying to ignore the incompetence of his subordinate.

 

“I was just...” Madge began.

 

“We got here a bit earlier than we had planned,” Rose started to explain.

 

“Sir, I think they're time travellers,” the female worker interrupted as she ran a different scanner over them.

 

“We're sure it's not her cardigan?” he snapped at her.

 

“Who are you? It was Christmas,” Madge questioned and began to cry.

 

“What did you mean? What's about to happen in the forest?” Rose asked them worriedly.

 

######################################

 

The Doctor and Lily kept arguing about the nature and safety of this trip until they finally came upon a tall tower where the footprints in the snow ended. They hesitantly went inside and were faced with the form of a large wooden King sitting on a throne. There was a staircase leading up the tower all around them and they presumed that Cyril must have climbed it.

 

“Interesting,” the Doctor commented as he studied the figure.

 

“What's that? Is that a statue? What is it? It's like a King,” Lily questioned.

 

“A King, possibly, but not a statue. Look at the floor,” he prompted so that she would notice the large footprints that they had been following leading directly to this thing. “This is what Cyril was following. The growing thing. Hatched from a bauble on a tree. Grew to this size in less than an hour, I'd say. Impressive. And so is this building. Yes. It's grown, see. This building, it isn't a building. It's a group of trees grown in the shape of a building. Disguised as a building. Ooo, clever. I love. Clever, clever old forest. So, a forest grows a building. Why would it do that, Lily?” the Doctor rambled as he took in all of the information around him. This was certainly a mystery.

 

“I don't know,” she replied indignantly.

 

“Why is there honey in a honey trap?” he prompted, sure that she was more clever than she gave herself credit for.

 

“Because it's a trap?” she suggested.

 

“Exactly. Thing about people, we can never resist a door,” he told her.

 

“So this is a trap. What, we've just walked straight into a trap?” she asked, afraid that something would jump out at them suddenly.

 

“A people trap. Question is, why does a forest need people?” he wondered.

 

“We should go. We have to get out of here,” she said, staring at the wooden king as she backed towards the door.

 

“Except?” the Doctor reminded her why they came to begin with.

 

“Except Cyril was here,” she realized.

 

The Doctor offered his hand, which she took gratefully. She was scared, but she could be brave for her brother's sake. “So let's find Cyril,” he told her as he led her up the stairs.

 

############################

 

“Ma'am, please stop crying. I can't interrogate you while you're crying. This is a military engagement! There's no crying in military engagements. Corporal Ven Garr, are you?” the leader argued as Madge continued to bawl dramatically.

 

The man that had scanned them originally had also started crying and responded, “I'm fine, sir.”

 

“What is wrong with you?” the leader questioned in disgust.

 

“I have mother issues, sir. It's all on file. It won't affect the performance of my duties,” Ven Garr responded and tried to calm himself in the face of a crying woman.

 

Rose was frustrated that they wouldn't answer her question about what was supposed to be happening here soon, but Madge's crying seemed to be winning them peaceful points, so she just patted the other woman on the shoulder soothingly and let the tears work their magic.

 

“Er, sir. Er, with regret, I'm going to have to lower my gun,” the female officer reported.

 

“Why?” their leader questioned.

 

“She is a crying, unarmed female civilian. I'm thinking of the visual,” she replied.

 

“Nobody's looking,” he argued incredulously.

 

“Doesn't mean there's no visual,” she told him.

 

“That's exactly what nobody's looking means. It means there's no visual,” he insisted.

 

“I'm sorry, sir. It's under control. Do you want me to shoot them, sir?” Ven Garr asked once he had calmed himself.

 

“Oh, this visual's deteriorating, sir,” the woman groaned.

 

“Shut up!” he shouted. The woman put her gun on the ground and stepped back from it. “What are you doing?” her superior questioned angrily.

 

“I am respecting her as a woman, sir,” she replied.

 

The man rolled his eyes and acquiesced, hoping they might get some sensible answers from the trespassers if they could get the woman to stop bawling. “Okay, we're putting our guns on the ground. Okay? Happy now? We're stepping away from our guns. Now can we interrogate you? We're from Androzani Major. The year is 5345, and we mean you no harm. Where are you from?” he asked placatingly as he and Van Garr also placed their weapons on the ground and stepped back from them.

 

“England, 1941. And there's a war on,” Madge replied as she pulled a revolver out of her pocket and aimed it at them, her crocodile tears disappearing.

 

“Madge! What are you doing?” Rose shrieked.

 

“Crying's ever so useful, isn't it?” she said with a teary smile.

 

“If you say so. But there's nothing you could say that would convince me you'd ever use that gun,” the leading officer challenged.

 

“Oh really? Well, I'm looking for my children,” Madge countered and the man's eyes went wide.

 


	3. The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe - Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I wanted to finish it before xmas, but I just couldn't seem to get through it. I had planned on changing more in this story, but I couldn't seem to find a way to get Rose lost and in danger in the woods and have it believable.

Chapter Three: The Wolf, The Widow, and The Wardrobe – part three

 

 

“Cyril? Cyril, can you hear me?” the Doctor called repeatedly through the door at the top of the stairs. It was locked and the Doctor was trying desperately to open it with his sonic screwdriver. “Oh, of course. It's wood. It's rubbish at wood,” he grumbled when he remembered that everything, even the locks, had been grown by the forest.

 

“It doesn't look like wood,” Lily argued.

 

“It's disguised wood. Have you been listening?” he reminded her, sounding a bit exasperated.

 

“How can trees grow into a building?” she questioned. It really didn't seem possible.

 

“Never underestimate a tree, Lily. I met a representative of the Forest of Cheem once. She fancied me. Rose wasn't too happy with that,” he replied.

 

“Look at that,” Lily gasped as she looked out a little window to the forest outside.

 

“Busy, actually. Yes, I know, it's wood. Get over it,” the Doctor told her dismissively while arguing with his sonic.

 

“But there are stars. There are stars coming out,” she told him, awestruck by what she was seeing.

 

“Yes, that does happen, Lily. Cyril!” the Doctor told her quickly. He was desperate to fix this mess and she was gaping at the stars out the window?

 

“Yes, but out of the trees,” she added happily and he quickly ran to see what she was looking at. “What is that?” she asked.

 

At the top of every tree, there were little twinkling lights, just hovering in the air, as if waiting for something. It did indeed look like stars.

 

“Life force. Pure life force, just singing,” he explained.

 

“Beautiful. Doesn't it make you want to cry?” Lily choked, overtaken by the beauty of it.

 

“Crying when you're happy. Good for you. That's so human,” he told her. It was something he had seen his wife do sometimes. He had cried slightly in relief on a few rare occasions, but not from overwhelming happiness.

 

They were suddenly both drawn back to the matter at hand by a bright yellow light emanating from behind the door where Cyril was.

 

“What's that? What is it? Tell me what?” Lily pleaded.

 

The Doctor didn't have a clue what the forest wanted with them. He simply had to get through the door. “Cyril, can you hear me?” he called desperately, banging on the door.

 

Suddenly, they heard the sound of loud footsteps coming up the staircase. They couldn't be sure, but it was most likely the wooden King coming toward them.

 

“Oh my god. Oh my god,” Lily whispered fearfully. The Doctor stayed close to her, trying to be a reassuring presence.

 

################################

 

Madge insisted that the workers take Rose and herself inside the large vehicle they had arrived in. Once inside, Rose tied them up so they could work at finding the children and the Doctor more quickly.

 

“What is all this? Is it some kind of cockpit? My husband's a pilot,” Madge questioned as she looked at all of the controls.

 

“It drives the platform,” the woman answered.

 

“Don't worry, Madge. I can drive just about anything these days,” Rose assured her as she sat down at the console. “Just need to run a scan for life signs out there.”

 

“There is nobody else in this forest. There can't be,” Ven Garr argued.

 

“Well, they found a way in. Maybe her kids did, too,” the female suggested logically.

 

“Then God help them,” their leader grumbled.

 

“Why do you say that?” Madge questioned worriedly.

 

“Yeah, you said something was about to happen in this forest, what is it?” Rose pressed.

 

“This forest is about to be harvested,” he replied frankly.

 

“Harvested?” Madge wondered.

 

“What? Tonight?! You can't be serious! Oh, Doctor, your sense of timing is appalling!” Rose shouted and worked faster on the scanners to find them quickly.

 

“Androzani trees. Greatest fuel source ever. The entire area is being melted down for battery fluid,” the man continued to explain.

 

“Melted down? How do you melt a forest?” Madge argued. She knew you could cut down or burn a forest, but wood didn't melt as far as she knew.

 

“Acid rain. The satellites are in position. Anyone still out there in five minutes is going to burn,” he told her.

 

“I am so sorry, Madge. This was all meant to be a fun trip for the children. A nice little trip to a beautiful place where they could see Christmas trees that grew their own decorations and play in the snow. Our son used to love coming here, but it's all gone wrong. I swear to you, we will find them and get them home, safe and sound,” Rose rambled as she locked onto the location of the three life signs she detected and looked over the platform's controls.

 

########################

 

 

The Doctor frantically tried to get the door open to where Cyril had gone, but despite all of his attempts, the door wouldn't budge. Until it opened on its own.

 

“That wasn't me,” the Doctor whispered worriedly as he stared at the now unlocked door.

 

“It doesn't matter,” Lily told him as she rushed through the door to find her brother.

 

They found themselves inside the glass dome at the top of the tower. Cyril was sitting in a large chair in the middle of the room, his eyes closed, and a golden circlet sitting on his head.

 

“What's wrong with him, Caretaker? Is he dead?” Lily asked as she tried to wake him.

 

“It's okay. He's just unconscious,” the Doctor assured her. He took a moment to tell his wife, “ _Just found Cyril, he seems to be unconscious and we are dealing with some sort of wooden creatures.”_

 

“ _Sounds great, love. I have to figure out how to drive some kind of mechanical tree-harvesting thing to reach all of you before the acid rain starts melting the forest down for battery fluid,”_ she replied, her worry for all of them clearly coming through their bond.

 

“So what are you? Not a King, a Queen! The Queen Bee of the forest,” the Doctor said aloud, addressing the wooden woman standing behind Cyril.

 

“Caretaker, look,” Lily called. She was looking out the window again and all of the stars hovering over the trees seemed to be gathering closer together.

 

“It's like...” he started.

 

“Like what?” Lily wondered when he trailed off.

 

“Like the life force is leaving the forest,” he told her thoughtfully. Rose told him that there was about to be an acid rain fall that would melt the forest. Perhaps the trees knew about it?

 

The large wooden king entered the room and joined the queen in standing either side of where Cyril sat.

 

“What are they doing? Stop him!” Lily shouted angrily.

 

The Doctor aimed his sonic at both of them, but it was completely ineffective. “Annoying aliens made of wood! It was always going to happen, you know,” he directed at his screwdriver in frustration. The creatures simply stood next to the little boy though. “Er, it's okay. I think they just want to talk to us.”

 

Cyril's eyes suddenly opened and he spoke, “They're scared. Can't you hear them? The trees are screaming. Can't you hear?”

 

The Doctor scanned Cyril and realized that the circlet on his head was connecting him to the forest. “No, but you can. You're connected to them.”

 

######################

 

“I've got them on the scanner. I've just got to figure out these controls, Madge and we'll get everyone out of here,” Rose assured her.

 

“It takes years of training,” the female officer protested.

 

“Yeah, good thing I've got a lot of experience piloting just about everything at this point. A few centuries of travelling time and space gives you a lot of opportunities for that sort of thing,” Rose told them.

 

“A few centuries?” the leader questioned incredulously.

 

“Acid rain alert. Five minute warning. Prepare for beam out,” the computer announced ominously.

 

“Great! Always work better with a time limit,” Rose grumbled and the platform made its first tentative steps through the snow.

 

“Evacuate,” the computer said before all three of the officers disappeared in a flash of light.

 

“Good. Don't need them telling me what I can and can't do anyway. Let's go get those kids,” Rose responded. _“On our way, love.”_

 

“Acid fall in five minutes. Unauthorised personnel will be incinerated,” sounded the computer once more.

 

#######################

 

“Why have the stars left the trees?” Lily asked her brother.

 

“I think they're...” Cyril replied thoughtfully.

 

“Just concentrate. What are they doing?” the Doctor asked, clearly the boy was having trouble translating the thoughts he was getting into words that he understood.

 

“Evacuating. They're evacuating,” Cyril said finally.

 

“Of course, Rose told me what the harvesters were up to. The forest knows!” the Doctor shouted.

 

“They're frightened of the rain. The rain that burns,” Cyril told them.

 

“Caretaker, please explain. I'm frightened,” Lily pleaded.

 

“Those stars. They're pure life force. Souls, if you like. And they're trying to escape because they think their home is going to burn,” the Doctor informed her.

 

“Why can't they just float up into the sky?” she wondered.

 

“They need to travel inside a living thing. Inside Cyril. You see, this, it's not a crown, it's a relay. They're turning your brother into a lifeboat. That's what this place is for, then. It's an escape plan, is that it?” the Doctor postulated. The wooden queen reached to grasp Cyril's shoulder and the Doctor snapped at her, “Don't you harm him. Do not touch that child!”

 

“Your coming was foretold,” the queen spoke with a distorted voice through Cyril's mouth.

 

“Oh my God, what is that? Why did he sound like that?” Lily was panicking for the safety of her brother.

 

“Oh, hello. Are we lip synching now?” the Doctor asked, addressing the queen.

 

“We had faith. Your coming was foretold,” she repeated.

 

“There's no such thing as foretelling. Trust a time traveller,” the Doctor replied.

 

“We waited, and you came. The Wolf and her consort,” the queen elaborated.

 

“Well, that's a new one. Usually the Wolf is considered to be with me. So, you've got an escape plan. Why aren't you escaping?” he wondered.

 

“The child is weak.”

 

“You mean he's a child,” he reasoned.

 

“No, he is weak. The forest cannot live in him. But there are others,” she replied.

 

“There certainly are. And, the good thing is I look great in a hat. So, let's get this thing off, eh?” the Doctor suggested and reached for the crown.

 

“You are also weak,” the queen protested.

 

“I'm really not. Let's save a forest, eh, Cyril?” the Doctor insisted.

 

“You are not the one. You are weak,” the queen warned.

 

“I'm really not,” he argued and lifted the circlet. It glowed a bright gold and burned his hands, but his fingers were firmly wrapped around the band and unable to let go. He shouted in pain.

 

“Let go! Just let go! Drop it! Let it go! Please, just drop it,” Lily shouted at him.

 

“I can't!” he cried and the young girl snatched the crown from his hands.

 

Lily giggled as she held the now normal looking crown in her hands. “Oh, it's funny, isn't it. It's sort of tingly,” she said as she backed into the wooden queen.

 

“Tingly?” the Doctor gasped, still trying to recover from the agonizing pain he had experienced from it.

 

The queen grasped her shoulder and spoke through Lily, “She is strong, but she is young.”

 

Lily gasped and pulled away from the queen, dropping the circlet in the process. It rolled along the floor.

 

“She's strong, I'm weak. Interesting,” the Doctor commented, trying to work out the obvious mix up in translation.

 

“Mummy?” Cyril mumbled, waking up from the trance he had been in.

 

“Cyril, it's alright. It's me. Mummy isn't here but, we're going home to her right now, aren't we, Caretaker?” Lily assured her brother.

 

“Your mother is on the way here, along with my Rose. Maybe she's the strong one they're looking for?” he reasoned. They seemed to know about her at least. Thunder sounded above them and they could hear the acid rain as it started to fall on the glass over their heads.

 

All of them ran to the window when they heard the large machine crashing through the trees outside.

 

“What's that?” Lily asked.

 

“It's an Androzani Harvester. With my darling wife and your mother on board,” he answered with a grin.

 

The Doctor instructed the children to stay upstairs while he ran down the huge staircase to greet the two women. Both had the hoods of their coats over their heads and holes were burning through the outer layers from the rain outside.

 

“Talk about nasty weather!” Rose called and quickly found herself in a spinning hug from her husband.

 

“Caretaker?” Madge addressed the Doctor.

 

“Yes?”

 

“You're fired!” she told him.

 

“Oh. Well, let's go check on the children shall we?” he suggested and led both of them back upstairs.

 

Madge hugged both of her children upon reaching the dome and chastised them for all of this trouble, “Oh, what are you doing? How dare you leave the house? Cyril, what have I told you about opening your presents early?”

 

“Sorry, mummy,” he mumbled.

 

“Something like this was bound to happen. What are those?” she asked upon seeing the wooden king and queen.

 

“Well, I think they were waiting for Rose,” the Doctor said, placing himself and his wife between the wooden creatures and the full humans.

 

“What makes you think they want me?” Rose wondered. She was more than willing to take the risk in place of the others, but she knew he had worked something out before she got there.

 

“Well, apparently, Cyril and I are weak. Lily is strong, but too young. And they mentioned that they were waiting for the Wolf and her consort to arrive. So, there you are, love. We need to get these frightened tree spirits away from here,” he explained.

 

“Sounds like solid reasoning to me,” Rose answered and approached the queen who was holding the glowing circlet in her hands.

 

The queen took Rose's hand, but held the circlet back from her. “We fear the Wolf. She is strong, but dangerous. The other can help us,” the queen said through Rose.

 

Rose backed away with a gasp. “Dangerous? I would never hurt you. Why does it have to be Madge?”

 

“That's beautiful, isn't it?” Madge commented, suddenly fixated on the glowing crown.

 

“Mummy?” Cyril questioned as she dropped her children's hands and walked toward the queen, seemingly in a bit of a trance.

 

“Madge, are you sure?” Rose asked worriedly. The Doctor held her back from stopping the woman, as they watched her approach the queen.

 

“See how it shines,” Madge sighed as she watched the creature place the circlet on her head.

 

Suddenly, all of the little stars from outside gathered and flowed straight into Madge. She laughed and behaved as if the sensation was quite pleasing.

 

“The stars are going inside her. She's taking the whole forest,” Lily gasped in awe.

 

“Oh, this is marvellous. Oh, this is really quite wonderful,” Madge told them.

 

Her eyes seemed to be looking up at something none of them could see, but she was speaking to them clearly. When the last of the lights entered her, the circlet disappeared.

 

“Madge? Are you all right? Talk to me. Madge, can you hear me?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Yes, I can hear you. I'm perfectly fine, thank you,” she replied as if he was the one being rather silly.

 

“Fine? You've got a whole world inside your head,” he protested.

 

“I know! It's funny, isn't it? One can't imagine being a forest, then suddenly one can. How remarkable,” she answered.

 

“Is she really going to be alright after this?” Rose asked the queen standing beside her.

 

“She is strong,” the queen answered through Madge after grasping her shoulder.

 

“Ooo. That wasn't me. This is all really rather clever, isn't it?” Madge interjected, taken aback by having the creature speak through her.

 

“She's strong. She's strong. Ooo, stupid me. Stupid old Doctor. Do you get it, Cyril?” the Doctor said in realization.

 

“No,” he replied.

 

“Lily, you do, don't you?” the Doctor prompted.

 

“No,” she answered

 

“I think I've got it, love. They're matriarchal, yeah?” Rose suggested.

 

“Of course you figured it out. You're brilliant. Think about it. Weak and strong. It's a translation. Translated from the base code of nature itself. You and I, Cyril, we're weak. But she's female. More than female, she's mum. How else does life ever travel? The Mother ship!” the Doctor shouted excitedly.

 

“But I'm a mum too,” Rose protested.

 

“Your mind is too strong. The Wolf would devour us,” the queen spoke again.

 

The dome shifted then, as it detached from the tower and rose into the air.

 

“What's happening?” Lily asked.

 

“No idea. Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it's a plan,” the Doctor told her honestly.

 

“It's worked for us so far,” Rose added, grasping her husband's hand firmly.

 

The large glass ball around them blasted away from Androzani and into the Vortex.

 

“This is amazing,” the Doctor told them as he stared out the window. The forest had not only grown a space ship, but it was capable of travelling through the Vortex.

 

“Where are we?” Cyril wondered.

 

“Technically, we're not anywhere. We've flown into the Time Vortex. You've what you wanted. Those idiots down there can burn your old home and you'll be safe out here. But these people helped you, and they're in my protection. Now help them. How do we get home?” the Doctor asked the queen.

 

“Think,” the queen told them through Madge.

 

“Sorry? What?” the Doctor asked for clarification.

 

“She must only think.”

 

“Madge, did you hear that? You said it, but did you hear it? You've got to think,” the Doctor told her urgently, unsure of how long this ship would last.

 

“Think what?” she asked, not understanding.

 

“Think of home. Just picture it, feel it! You have to really feel it. Can you do that? Your mind is controlling this vessel. You can fly us all back for Christmas,” he told her firmly.

 

“My head is full of trees, Caretaker. Can't you fly us home?” she requested, her eyes still dazed from the experience.

 

“I don't have a home to think of. And between you and me, I'm older than I look and I can't feel the way you do. Not any more. And you really need to feel it, Madge. Everything about home that you miss until you can't bear it. Until you almost burst,” he said to her.

 

“Till it hurts. Is that what you mean, Caretaker? Till it hurts?” she asked.

 

“Yes, Madge. Now, we do have a home, despite what he said, but it's not the same as yours. You can focus on one real, solid time and place for home. You can do this, because just like they said, you are strong,” Rose told her, taking her hand firmly.

 

Madge reached her other hand into her pocket and pulled out the folded paper that Rose realized was the telegram informing her of what happened to her husband.

 

“Well then, home in time for Christmas!” she said confidently. She cried out and shut her eyes as the ship sped up and crashed through the Vortex.

 

“What's happening? Where are we going?” Lily asked.

 

“Show them! Show them!” the Doctor demanded and the front of the dome became a view screen to display where they were going. “Ha! The Time Vortex. Your mother is flying a forest through the Time Vortex. Be a little impressed. What are you going home for? What's pulling you there? Please, try. Please, think.”

 

As her thoughts focussed, images of her husband flashed in front of them.

 

“Reg!” she cried.

 

“Daddy!” Cyril called happily.

 

“My Reg!” Madge shouted. Rose gripped her hand more tightly and her eyes filled with tears as she realized just how much this really was feeling it until it hurts.

 

“That's it, focus on Reg. Be careful, but focus on him,” the Doctor instructed.

 

“Oh, I don't know,” she cried, losing her concentration.

 

“I know, Madge. I know it's hard. Think about happy times. How did you meet him?” Rose prompted.

 

“He followed me home. I worked in the dairy. He always used to follow me home,” she told them as her memories flashed in front of them.

 

“Look at Father. He looks so young,” Lily said happily.

 

“He said he'd keep on following me till I married him. Didn't like to make a scene.”

 

“That's lovely, Madge. Keep thinking about him. Stay focussed and bring us all home,” Rose told her.

 

“This thing, it works psychically. It'll find a signal and lock on,” the Doctor added.

 

The images shifted to a bomber plane at night.

 

“No. No, please. Don't show me that. Please don't show me that!” Madge pleaded, tears leaking from her eyes. They were still clenched shut, but clearly she was seeing everything they were being shown.

 

“Is that Daddy's plane?” Cyril asked innocently.

 

“Please, I don't want to see that! Please!” she cried desperately.

 

Smoke billowed out of the plane's engines as they watched.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, Madge. Don't break the signal now. We can't break it now. I'm sorry, Madge,” the Doctor insisted as she sobbed in the chair.

 

“Not the night he died. I don't want to see him die!” she pleaded.

 

“What do you mean, the night he died?” Lily questioned, her voice quavering.

 

“Oh please don't make me watch him die!” she sobbed, tears running down her face.

 

“Mummy? Is Daddy dead? Mummy!” Cyril asked with tears filling his eyes as well behind his thick glasses.

 

“Oh Madge, I'm so sorry,” Rose whispered.

 


	4. The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe - Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally reached the end of this little story arc. Season seven proper is coming up now and I'm really on a roll with writing this, so it'll probably be up soon.

 

Chapter Four: The Wolf, the Widow, and the Wardrobe – part four

 

“Madge is a pretty amazing mum, wouldn't you say?” Rose asked her husband.

 

They were back in the attic, cleaning up their things as they prepared to leave. Madge's incredible flying through the Time Vortex led her straight to her husband's plane and she guided him back to that very house on Christmas Day. He didn't die after all, just took a shortcut.

 

“She certainly is, my love. You did some pretty amazing piloting yourself through that forest,” he replied.

 

“Well, we have taken a few flying lessons over the years and piloted some interesting space ships as well. I may have picked up a few things here and there,” she said with a smirk.

 

They were startled out of their teasing by Madge herself coming up into the attic. Seeing the TARDIS, she obviously remembered encountering them before.

 

“Of course. It's you, isn't it? My spaceman angel, with his head on backwards,” she sighed.

 

“How do I look the right way round?” he asked jokingly.

 

“Funnier,” she replied and Rose giggled at his pout. “So you came back.”

 

“Well, you were there for us when we had a bad day. Always like to return a favour. Got a bit glitchy in the middle there, but it sort of worked out in the end. Story of my life,” the Doctor told her.

 

“We didn't know that we could save him, but we at least wanted the children to have a nice Christmas. I'm so glad that he's home,” Rose said and hugged her tightly.

 

“Thank you, both of you,” Madge said with a watery smile.

 

“You did the fancy flying all on your own,” Rose assured her.

 

“Now, the last time I saw you, I went back the next day, but the police box had gone,” she told them.

 

“Yeah. You want to see how it's done?” the Doctor enthused.

 

“No. I want you to stay for Christmas, please,” Madge requested.

 

“Oh Madge, I wish we could,” Rose answered.

 

“Of course. Yes. Family of your own,” she realized.

 

“Quite. In-laws, and children, and friends,” the Doctor said with a beaming smile. For so long, he had been the last of the Time Lords. Now he had his wife, a son, a daughter-in-law, her parents, his wife's parents, and all of their friends at Torchwood. And he couldn't be happier about it.

 

“You should definitely be with them for Christmas,” she insisted.

 

“Give those kids a big snuggle for me, yeah?” Rose said as she stood in the doorway of their ship.

 

“Of course. Merry Christmas,” she replied.

 

The Doctor joined his wife inside the TARDIS and they made their way to Amy and Rory's house, where everyone was meeting. They parked across the street so that they wouldn't take up any room inside the house. The expected crowd was already quite large. Grabbing the large bag of presents that they had brought for everyone, the couple made their way to knock on the bright blue door.

 

Amy, Jackie, and Donna were just putting the finishing touches on dinner as Jamie and River set the table. Rory took the bag of presents from the Doctor to place it under the tree with the others. Rose flitted around the house, hugging everyone, while the Doctor stood back to watch the thoroughly domestic scene with Jack and Pete.

 

"You know, Doc? The leather version of you would have run screaming from all this," Jack teased.

 

"No, actually, that was all for show. I thought I couldn't have this, so I tried to convince everyone that I didn't want it, especially myself. After losing my entire family in the War, I never thought I could have a family again. But that version of me craved it even more, and with the same pink and yellow human," the Doctor admitted.

 

Dinner was wonderful and filled with laughter. They all shared stories about what they had been up to. Jamie and River talked about their adventures since her rescue from The Library, Jack and Pete shared a few of the things going on In Cardiff, and Rory told them about work at the hospital. Rose noticed that Amy seemed a bit upset about something. Her smiles were a bit forced and she didn't talk about much.

 

After dinner, Rose pulled Amy aside. "What is it, sweetheart? Something is definitely bothering you," Rose asked privately.

 

"It's... Well, after all of the things they did to me at Demon's Run, I can't... I can't have any more children," Amy answered, tears welling in her eyes.

 

"Oh, Amy," Rose sighed and pulled her into a hug. "That's what your doctor here said, yeah?"

 

"Yeah. They did some damage internally," she replied quietly.

 

"Alright, now you just calm down. There are lots of things in the future that might be able to fix it. Let me do a quick scan on my sonic and a bit of research, ok?" Rose suggested reassuringly. At Amy's nod, she scanned her with her screwdriver and would check with the TARDIS and in the library to see if they could find a solution, but if nanogenes could bring a dead little boy back to life, they should be able to fix this.

 

"Thank you, Rose. Rory has always wanted kids. I know we have River, but I don't really feel like her mum, you know? She was my best friend as a child, I didn't really raise her. He wants a baby. To carry her around and sing her lullabies and stuff, and I can't give him that," Amy told her and clung to her tightly as Rose rubbed her back.

 

Of course Rose understood. She at least got the baby and child years with Jamie before he ran off with Jack, and then to university. She still didn't feel like she got the full mum experience herself. To go from not even knowing you're pregnant to learning what they did about River within a matter of days would be more than most people could take.

 

"Come on, you two, it's time for presents!" Jackie called to them and they moved to join the others in the sitting room.

 

########################

 

The Doctor and Rose had offered a trip to anyone that wanted to come as part of their presents. Donna demanded a spa somewhere and Jack thoroughly agreed to a trip as well. Jamie and River docked their TARDIS inside his parents' and came along for the trip as well. They were disappointed that Amy and Rory didn't join them, but Rory was very busy at work and Amy's heart wasn't in it at the moment.

 

They spent two weeks at a lovely spa where the masseuses had four arms and the sand on the beaches was lavender. Donna and Jack were back at Torchwood before Pete even made it back from Amy and Rory's house.

 

"It was lovely having you two here. Are you sure you don't want to come with us for a bit?" Rose asked Jamie and River Tyler as they walked back to their own TARDIS.

 

The couple exchanged a look, _"Should we tell them?"_ River asked her husband silently.

 

Jamie nodded before telling his parents, "We were actually planning on slowing down for a bit. Because, well." He couldn't seem to find the right words and rubbed the back of his neck in a manner similar to his father's last incarnation.

 

"I'm expecting," River interjected.

 

"Oh River! That's wonderful!" Rose exclaimed and jumped to wrap her arms around her daughter in law. "A baby! I'm gonna be a gran!"

 

"Congratulations. Perfect reason to take it easy for a bit. Only safe trips for a while," the Doctor added.

 

“Yeah. We haven't told anyone else yet. It's still fairly early on, but we figured that you guys would be the first ones to find out anyway,” Jamie informed them.

 

“It's fantastic news, sweetheart,” Rose said as she turned to hug him as well.

 

“We'll tell my parents when I'm a little further along,” River told them, her hand absentmindedly going to her belly.

 

“Where do you plan on settling in for now?” the Doctor wondered

 

“I thought we might start with Barcelona, but I'm sure neither of us will want to stay in one place for too long. Our TARDIS will help us keep to relatively safe spots for now, I think,” Jamie replied.

 

“Absolutely. Call us if you need anything, and make sure that we see the two of you again before giving birth, yeah? I'd like to be there when my first grandchild is born,” Rose insisted.

 

“Sure thing, mum. Love you. You too, dad,” James said as they entered the door set into the trunk of the glittering coral tree that was their little TARDIS. Their chameleon circuit worked fairly well, but she usually changed into whatever she felt like, rather than whatever would blend in best.

 

As they listened to the sounds of the younger TARDIS dematerializing, Rose considered their empty nest and wondered if they might want to have another of their own. It had been centuries for her since she gave birth, so it might be nice. “Do you want another baby, Doctor?” she asked softly.

 

“Really?” he gasped and she could feel his overwhelming joy at the idea. Jamie was a bit of an accident, not that they were actively avoiding it at the time, but they certainly never expected to be separated then, either. “That would be wonderful. I missed Jamie's birth. Missed being with you while you were pregnant. I'd love it,” he assured her.

 

“Well, let's let this round of birth control run out then, and we'll see, yeah?” Rose said with a warm smile.

 

“Yeah.”

 


	5. Asylum of the Daleks - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, there are some rather big changes here. You might figure out what I've done, or it might just really confuse you. Not sure which.

Chapter Five: Asylum of the Daleks

 

 

The Doctor was upset. Upset and angry. He had received a summons through a dream. An unknown woman had sent a psychic projection into his mind while they were sleeping and called them to Skaro of all places. One of the places that he never wanted to set foot again.

 

“I thought Skaro would have been time locked with the War?” Rose asked tentatively. She knew this was a sensitive topic for him, but she needed to know as much as possible if she was going to help.

 

“No. There weren't any Daleks left there by then. So there was no reason to extend the time lock that far. As far as I know, it's completely uninhabited now,” he explained, the tension in his voice apparent as he piloted the ship to their destination. “Let's get this over with,” he grumbled, taking her hand and leading her out onto the dreaded planet.

 

They were inside some kind of structure. They could hear rain pouring down outside and beating patterns on the metal roof above them. The Doctor took out his sonic and scanned for life signs. There was only one other person in the area, so they went to go and meet her. The woman stood by a large window, looking out over the desolate landscape. She wore a long, hooded cape, and turned slightly towards them as they approached.

 

“I got your message. Not many people can do that. Send me messages,” the Doctor said coldly.

 

Rose noticed that the woman seemed nervous and kept looking around as if she expected to be attacked.

  
“I have a daughter, Hannah. She's in a Dalek prison camp. They say you can help,” the stranger replied.

  
“Do they? I wish they'd stop. Hell of a choice of a meeting place,” he commented.

  
“They said I'd have to intrigue you,” she responded.

 

“Who is 'they' exactly?” Rose questioned, but the woman just looked away and stayed quiet.

  
“Skaro. The original planet of the Daleks. Look at the state of it. Who told you about me?” the Doctor finally said, breaking the silence and asking his wife's question again.

  
“Does it matter?” the woman asked worriedly.

  
“Maybe not, but you're very well informed. If Hannah's in a Dalek prison camp, tell me, why aren't you?” he pressed. Something about all of this wasn't adding up.

  
“I escaped,” she replied quickly.

  
The Doctor chuckled at catching her out. “No. Nobody escapes the Dalek camps,” he said, sure of himself and grasped her hand. “You're very cold.”

 

The Doctor looked around them all of a sudden. Rose could feel his worry through their bond and grasped his hand, their bracelets clinking together between them. They started backing away from the strange woman and she looked at them in alarm.

  
“What's wrong?” she wondered.

  
“It's a trap,” he answered.

  
“What is?” she asked.  
  


“You are, and you don't even know it,” he told her.

 

“What?” Rose gasped.

 

There was a slight cracking sound before a Dalek eyepiece suddenly burst through her forehead, and one of their guns from the palm of her hand. They didn't even have a chance to start running; she shot them both with a stun beam.

 

The Doctor awoke before his wife with a gasp and quickly took in their surroundings. The walls, floor and ceiling were all completely white, but they seemed to be alone. As soon as he established that there was nothing immediately threatening them, he moved to check on Rose and she opened her eyes at his touch.

 

“Where are we?” she asked dazedly.

 

“Not sure yet, but you can bet there'll be Daleks,” he replied as he helped her up off the floor.

 

A moment later, the door to the room opened and two bronze Daleks rolled in.

 

“YOU WILL FOLLOW,” one of them ordered.

 

Not wanting to get themselves killed before they even found out what the situation was, they both followed silently, as directed. Through the door to the next cell, they could hear Rory's voice asking “So, how much trouble are we in?”

 

“How much trouble, Mr. Pond?” the Doctor began as they were led into the room with their friends. Both Amy and Rory were there, but Rose noticed that they weren't holding onto each other as they usually would in a threatening situation. “Out of ten? Eleven,” the Doctor concluded.

 

The ceiling of the room they had just entered opened and slid away as the floor began to rise. They suddenly found themselves in a huge chamber as the platform they were standing on locked into place in the floor of the new room. The levels around them held tiers of Daleks, perhaps thousands of them, all focussed on the four people now in the centre of the room.

 

The TARDIS stood beside them, obviously taken when they had captured Rose and the Doctor. At the front of the room, there was a Dalek out of its casing, in a transparent container, much like that of the Emperor that they had met previously, though much smaller in size. All of the Daleks just stared at them silently.

 

“Where are we? A spaceship, right?” Amy asked quietly.

  
“Not just any spaceship. The Parliament of the Daleks. Be brave,” the Doctor replied. He grasped his wife's hand tightly as they steeled themselves for yet another face off against their greatest enemy.

  
“What do we do?” Amy questioned.

  
“Make them remember you,” he whispered back. With an unspoken agreement, he and Rose walked toward the front of the assembly. “Well, come on then. You've got us. What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas! Here we are,” the Doctor announced loudly and they waited for the barrage of lasers to kill them both.

  
“SAVE US. YOU WILL SAVE US,” came the voice from the Dalek at the front of the room. It sounded hesitant, but pleading.

  
“I'll what?” the Doctor sputtered disbelievingly.

  
“YOU WILL SAVE THE DALEKS,” it insisted.

 

“You've got to be joking,” Rose commented, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

All of the Daleks around them began to chant, “SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS. SAVE THE DALEKS.”

  
“Well. This is new,” the Doctor added as they looked around them.

 

The woman that they had met on Skaro arrived and stood near them. All of the Daleks went silent as she informed them that they would arrive at their destination soon. The Doctor nervously paced the floor. Rose sent him her reassurance through their bond. Something strange was happening and they would need each other's strength to get through it.

 

They could hear Amy and Rory speaking to each other in low voices. The room was so deathly silent, that even the slightest whisper could have been heard.

 

“What's he doing?” Rory asked.

 

“He's chosen the most defendable area in the room, counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits, and now he's calculating the exact distance we're standing apart and starting to worry. Oh, and look at him frowning now. Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it? And he straightens his bow tie,” Amy rambled as she watched him.

  
“WE HAVE ARRIVED,” one of the Daleks announced loudly.

  
The Doctor braced himself before bravely asking, “Arrived where?”

  
“DOCTOR,” the Dalek in the jar called.

  
“The Prime Minister will speak with you now,” the woman from Skaro informed them.

  
“Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?” the Doctor asked her.

  
“My memories are only reactivated if they are required to facilitate deep cover or disguise,” she replied coldly.

 

“Oh my god,” Rose gasped, realizing that this wasn't just a construction, but used to be a real person.

  
“You had a daughter,” he growled angrily.

  
“I know. I've read my file,” she responded jokingly.

  
The Doctor's teeth were clenched as he and his wife made their way up to address the one they had been informed was the Prime Minister. Rose could barely bring herself to look at the thing in disgust. There had been a time, long ago, where she had felt so much pity for a Dalek. It had changed at her touch and suddenly began to feel. In its last moments, all it wanted was to see the sunlight outside of its casing, and she questioned the Doctor for wanting to kill it.

 

While that one had changed, she wouldn't be so forgiving of any of them now. She understood the pain that they would inflict. Somehow, the few survivors that they had met with Winston Churchill had become all of this. They were back in full force.

  
“Well?” the Doctor asked curtly.

  
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE DALEK ASYLUM?” it questioned.

  
“According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control. It's never made any sense to me,” the Doctor responded, pacing again as he grew impatient for them to just come out with what it was they wanted.

  
“WHY NOT?” it asked.

  
“Why not just destroy them like you did with the ones that found the Progenitor thing?” Rose wondered.

 

“Exactly, why not just kill them?” the Doctor agreed.

  
“IT IS OFFENSIVE TO US TO EXTINGUISH SUCH DIVINE HATRED,” it replied.

  
“Offensive?!” the Doctor shouted.

  
“DOES IT SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THE DALEKS HAVE A CONCEPT OF BEAUTY?” the Prime Minister of the Daleks responded calmly.

  
The Doctor leaned in close to the container holding the creature and stared into its singular eye as he hissed his reply, “I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick. Hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?”

 

The Doctor walked back to his wife's side as they both seethed at the disgusting things.

  
“PERHAPS THAT IS WHY WE HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO KILL YOU,” the Dalek suggested, clearly trying to anger the Doctor even more. He refused to rise to the bait with his wife and friends held captive with him.

 

Apparently deciding that the conversation was over, a hole opened in the floor at the centre of the room. The woman from Skaro led them toward it and began to explain. Through the opening, they could see a small planet. It seemed to be surrounded by some kind of energy field, which was probably a good idea if it contained insane Daleks.  
  
“The Asylum. It occupies the entire planet, right to the core,” she told them.

 

Amy and Rory moved to stand next to the Doctor and Rose as they all looked down at the planet below.

  
“How many Daleks are in there?” the Doctor questioned.

  
“A count has not been made. Millions, certainly,” the woman answered.

  
“All still alive?” he asked.

  
“It has to be assumed. The Asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required.”

 

“You talk like this is Dalek Daycare,” Rose interjected.

  
“Armed?” Amy asked.

  
“The Daleks are always armed,” the woman replied.

  
“What colour?” Rory asked, earning himself an incomprehensible look from everyone. He blushed slightly and told them, “I'm sorry, there weren't any good questions left.”

 

“Well, most of the ones I've seen are that sort of bronze-y colour, but I still think those bright and shiny ones ought to start a basketball team. Maybe they've done that in the little school down below, yeah?” Rose answered.

  
“This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum,” the woman informed them and pressed a button. Over the speakers of the ship, a selection from the opera Carmen began blaring loudly.

  
“WHAT IS THE NOISE? EXPLAIN. EXPLAIN,” one of the large, white Daleks demanded.

 

The Doctor pulled Rose into his arms and began to twirl her around the room in a dance to the music. “Er, it's me,” he told them.

  
“Sorry, what?” Rory questioned, unsure how to take their apparent disregard for the danger they were all in.

  
“It's me, playing the triangle. Okay, I got buried in the mix. Carmen. Lovely show,” the Doctor added as he and his wife stopped dancing and addressed the matter at hand again. “Someone's transmitting this. Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?” There was silence, as if such a concept were incomprehensible. “He asked the Daleks,” the Doctor added cheekily.

 

Using his sonic on the computer interface near the Dalek Prime Minister, the Doctor tried to respond to the broadcast signal. “Hello? Hello? Carmen? Hello?” he called.

 

“Hello?” a female voice replied.

 

“Come in. Come in. Come in, Carmen,” the Doctor continued as he worked with his sonic to strengthen the signal.

 

“Hello! Yes, yes, sorry. Do you read me?” the girl's voice asked, sounding as if she had just run to the interface.

 

“Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status,” he told her.

  
“Oh, it's you isn't it?” she responded.

 

“Who is this?” the Doctor asked.

  
“Ah, right then, you can call me Aria. Been here quite a while now. A bit stuck, but we're working on that,” she answered.

 

“Are you okay? Are you under attack?” he wondered. How could someone get in there, let alone survive there.

  
“Yes, well, the locals aren't too friendly, but we're keeping them out so far,” Aria told them.

  
“Do you know what those lifeforms are?” he asked, unsure of whether she realized just how much danger she was in down there.

  
“I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah,” Aria answered.

 

“What are you doing down there?” the Doctor questioned incredulously.

 

“At the moment, trying not to be down here anymore,” she replied cheekily.

 

“THIS CONVERSATION IS IRRELEVANT,” the white Dalek interrupted and cut off the signal.

  
“No, it isn't,” the Doctor insisted angrily. “Because someone has gotten into your Asylum, and if someone can get in, then everything can get out. A tsunami of insane Daleks. Even you don't want that.”

  
“THE ASYLUM MUST BE CLEANSED,” the white Dalek demanded.

  
“Then why is it still here? You've enough firepower on this ship to blast it out of the sky,” the Doctor wondered.

  
“The Asylum forcefield is impenetrable,” the woman told them.

  
“Turn it off,” the Doctor suggested.

  
“It can only be turned off from within the Asylum,” she informed them.

  
“A small taskforce could sneak through a forcefield. Send in a couple of Daleks. Oh,” he paused as he suddenly realized why they hadn't already gone to fix the problem. He began to clap his hands at the corner the Daleks had found themselves in. “Oh. Oh, that's good. That's brilliant.”

 

“What is it, love?” Rose wondered. She could usually spot this sort of thing, but their logic was evading her this time.

 

“You're all too scared to go down there. Not one of you will go, so tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?” the Doctor asked.

  
“THE PREDATORS OF THE DALEKS WILL BE DEPLOYED,” the white Dalek responded.

  
“You don't have any Predators, and even if you did, why would they turn off a forcefield for you?” he asked.

  
“Because you will have no other means of escape,” the Dalek Prime Minister answered haughtily.

 

The Doctor looked at them in confusion, but Rose realized just what they had in mind and felt the rage inside her starting to rise.

  
“May I clarify? The Predators are what the Daleks call the two of you,” the woman informed them.

  
“What?! You can't possibly...” the Doctor argued as he and Rose were led back to the hole in the floor, where Amy and Rory were still waiting patiently to find out their own fate in all this.

  
“You will need this. It will protect you from the nanocloud,” the woman announced as two other humanoids attached devices to their wrists, opposite their marriage bracelets. It was like a large, black wristwatch with a blue light on it.  
  


“The what? The nano what?” the Doctor asked. Everything seemed to be happening far too quickly now.

  
“The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission. You must find a way to deactivate the forcefield from there,” the woman told them.

 

“Gravity beam?” Rose gasped as a bright beam of light fired from the ceiling, through the hole in the floor and towards the planet below.

  
“You're going to fire us at a planet? That's your plan? Rose and I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?” the Doctor argued.

  
“In fairness, that is slightly your M.O.” Rory commented.

  
“Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing us at a planet!” the Doctor told him.

 

“Can I have a moment to think up an alternative solution to this?” Rose requested.

 

The controlled humanoids placed similar bands on Amy and Rory's wrists as well.

 

“What are you doing? Why would they need those?” Rose demanded.

  
“IT IS KNOWN THAT THE DOCTOR REQUIRES COMPANIONS,” the white Dalek answered.

  
“Oh, brilliant. Good oh,” Rory exclaimed, rolling his eyes at being dragged back into one of these situations.

  
“Don't worry. We'll get through this, I promise. Don't be scared,” the Doctor told them. While he wasn't happy to be taking them into another dangerous situation, they wouldn't be any safer held on the ship as hostages.   
  


“Scared? Who's scared?” Amy said with a wink at Rose. “Geronimo.”

  
“Ha! Oi!” the Doctor called as they were all pushed into the light of the gravity beam and fell toward the planet. All four of them were screaming as they fell, but it was more from the excitement than fear. The Doctor managed to control his fall enough to reach out and grasp his wife's hand. They smiled at each other and relaxed to enjoy the ride.   
  


 

 


	6. Asylum of the Daleks - Part 2

Chapter 6: Asylum of the Daleks – part two

 

The Doctor and Rose landed side by side in the snow. Both immediately started laughing at the ridiculousness of their life.

 

“Oooh, that was fun. Can we do that again?” Rose teased.

 

“Maybe I'll take you somewhere we can zip line instead, eh?” the Doctor suggested.

 

“Probably a better idea. Where are the others?” Rose wondered.

 

Beside them, a small camera popped out of the snow. It looked a lot like a Dalek's eye and turned to look back and forth between them before they suddenly heard the sounds of Carmen again. The music stopped almost as suddenly as it had started.

 

“Sorry, sorry. Pressed the wrong switch,” Aria called through a hidden comm system.

  
“Aria?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Yeah, yeah, it's me. You two okay?” she asked.

  
“How are you doing that, eh? This is Dalek technology,” he wondered.

  
“It's very easy to hack. Well, this part is. The shields, no so much,” she replied.

  
“No, it isn't. Where are you?” he demanded.

 

“I have a ship. Parked it near the computer core underground. There was a Starliner that crashed about a year ago and their distress call was what alerted me to this place. I followed them in to try and hack the system. Now we're a bit stuck,” she answered.

 

“You've been here for a year?!” Rose gasped.

 

“Not exactly. It's, well, complicated,” she told them.   
  


“Doctor? Rose?” Amy shouted as she ran over the snowy hill towards them.

 

“Oops! Talk to you later!” Aria said and the little camera disappeared into the snow.

 

“Oi! Come back!” the Doctor shouted and dug into the snow to try and find the device again.  
  


“Doctor!” Amy gasped as she reached them finally. There was a man in a white parka following her and they wondered where he might have come from.

  
“Amy! Are you alright? Where's Rory?” Rose asked, checking her over for any injuries from the landing.

  
“There was another beam. There. Over there,” the man told them and pointed over the next hill. “Are you the rescue team?” he called after them as the trio ran towards where he was pointing.

 

There was a large hole that looked as though it had been drilled straight through the snow and ground cleanly, though they couldn't see the bottom.

  
“Rory? Rory! Rory!” Amy shouted down the hole, getting louder as her panic increased.

 

“Did the gravity beam take him all the way down there? He should be fine then, yeah?” Rose suggested.

 

“Should be. We'll find him, Amy. Don't worry,” the Doctor assured her, glad to see that she was still at least concerned about him, even if they weren't their usual lovey-dovey selves.

 

“I'm Harvey. Our escape pod crashed just over here,” the man directed them, once he caught up with the group. “We came down two days ago. There's twelve of our escape pods. I don't know what happened to the rest of them.”

 

“I'm Rose. That's the Doctor and Amy. We need to find our friend, Rory,” Rose told him as they followed him back to the escape pod.

 

He opened the hatch on the pod and climbed down the ladder. Rose grabbed both Amy and the Doctor's sleeves before they could follow him. “Didn't Aria say that it crashed a year ago? And Doctor, what did they mean by nanocloud?” she questioned worriedly.

 

“Yes, she said a year. He thinks it's only been two days. We'll figure this out,” he told her and led them both down into the ship to follow the only life they'd met so far.

  
“We should have some climbing rope long enough for that hole,” Harvey called as they descended the ladder. He was searching through a cabinet full of supplies.

 

They looked around the cabin and saw several people sitting in some of the chairs. Their hoods were all up, as if they were trying to keep out the cold, even inside, but none of them moved at the sound of the new arrivals.

  
“Won't you introduce us to your crew?” the Doctor prompted.

  
“Ah, yes, sorry. Guys, this is the Doctor, Rose, and Amy,” he announced, but all of the figures remained completely still in their seats. “Guys?”

 

The Doctor moved to look at one of them and pulled back the hood. The people were all dead and apparently had been for quite some time from the looks of them. Rose and Amy moved closer to see as well, when the Doctor only looked at them worriedly. He scanned the others, but it only confirmed that the rest of them had been dead just as long; about a year.  
  


“Oh, my god,” Harvey gasped.  
  


“They're dead. All of them,” the Doctor told him.

  
“That's not possible. I just spoke to them. Two hours ago. We were doing engine repairs,” Harvey insisted.

  
“You're sure about that, are you? Because I'd say they've all been dead for a very long time,” the Doctor replied.

  
“But they can't have been,” he denied.

  
“Well, they didn't get in this state in two hours,” Amy said, disgusted by what she was seeing.

 

“Doctor, what's going on?” Rose asked.

  
“No, of course. Stupid me,” Harvey said, his panic suddenly disappearing to be replaced by an eerie calm.

  
“Of course what?” Amy asked.

  
“I died outside, and the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying,” he told them before they heard the tell tale cracking sound and a Dalek eyepiece popped out of his forehead.  
  


“Doctor!” Rose shouted as she backed away toward the cockpit door, pulling Amy along with her.

 

“Got it!” he called back as he grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and fired it at Harvey before he could reach them. The Doctor used the force of it to direct the confused puppet towards a closet and Rose dashed forward to seal the thing inside.  
  


“Nice work, love,” the Doctor sighed in relief and kissed her quickly on the forehead.

  
“Explain,” Amy demanded, coughing from the gas of the extinguisher. “That's what you're good at. How'd he get all Daleked?”

  
“Because he wasn't wearing one of these,” the Doctor realized. “Oh, ho, ho. That's clever. The nanocloud. Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet. Anything attacks this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security.”

 

“That's what they were talking about, then? Like nanogenes, yeah?” Rose asked.

  
“Living or dead?” Amy questioned worriedly.

 

“Yeah, see we ran into these things a long time ago called nanogenes. They were like a medical thing that would just kind of fix you up, even from death sometimes,” Rose told her.

  
“These wristbands protect us. The only thing stopping us going exactly the way he did,” the Doctor explained.

  
“Doctor, shut up! Living or dead?” Amy prompted.

 

“Oh my god,” Rose gasped and looked at the crew.

  
“Yes, exactly. Living or, or,” the Doctor began but paused when he heard the cracking of the Dalek eyepieces piercing the skulls of the bodies around them. “Dead. Oh dear.”

  
The three of them managed to dodge the zombie-like things as they dashed into the cockpit, right up to the last minute. One of them grasped Amy's arm before they could seal the door, but the Doctor pulled her free and pulled the lever to lock them in. They all sighed in relief despite the sound of banging coming from the other side of the door.

 

“Is it bad that I've really missed this?” Amy asked with a grin.

  
“Yes,” the Doctor scolded.

  
“It's good,” she laughed.

 

“Oh yeah,” Rose agreed.

  
“You two,” he responded, shaking his head.

 

“Unauthorized personnel may not enter the cockpit,” came the sound of Aria's voice over the comm system.

 

“Shut up,” the Doctor called back.

  
“Oh, Mr. Grumpy,” she grumbled. “Bad combo. No sense of humour and that chin.”

  
“Aria? Did you hack into this too?” Rose questioned.

  
“Oi, what is wrong with my chin?” the Doctor protested, prompting a giggle from Amy and Rose.

  
“Careful, dear. You'll put someone's eye out,” Aria teased. “Scanning you. You're in one of the escape pods from the Alaska, right?”

  
“How can you hack into everything? It should be impossible. None of these things are connected,” the Doctor argued.

  
“I've got some really impressive technology of my own. Besides, I'm a bit awesome with computers. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?” Aria bragged.

  
“Doctor. You call me the Doctor,” he teased.

 

“Oi! No flirting!” Rose told him with a smack on the arm.

  
“See what you did there,” Aria responded, ignoring the argument. “I managed to hack into the internal teleports of the escape pod since we last spoke, and I think I can get you from that pod down into the lower levels. You might be able to find Rory down there.”

 

“How did you know his name?” Amy questioned suspiciously.

 

“He, umm, told me. I spoke to him on one of the other computer things down there,” she answered. They got the sense though that she may have been lying about that somehow. “Just a tick and I'll teleport the three of you.”

  
“Speaking of Rory, is there anything you want to tell me?” the Doctor asked Amy.

  
“Are we going to do this now?” she grumbled.

  
“What happened?”

  
“Oh, stuff. You know. We split up. What can you do?” Amy deflected.

  
“What can I do?” he asked, really wanting to help his friends.

  
“Nothing,” she insisted.

 

“This isn't about that thing we talked about at Christmas, is it?” Rose questioned. Amy just looked at her sadly for a moment before turning away.

 

The banging from outside stopped suddenly and the Doctor noticed the Dalek puppets holding something up to the camera feeding into the cockpit.

 

“Oh, hello, hello, hello. What are they up to?” he wondered and examined the small screen.  
  
“What's that?” Amy asked, looking over his shoulder.

  
“One of these,” he replied, holding up his wristband. “But where did they get it?”   
  


“Doctor, they got it from me,” Amy gasped as she realized that hers was missing.

  
“Oh my god, Amy!” Rose cried.

  
“Doctor, what's going to happen to me? Seriously. Tell me what,” she asked, starting to panic.

 

They were all engulfed in a bright blue light for a moment before finding themselves in a dark, damp hallway.

 

“So tell me, what's going to happen to me? And don't lie. Because I know when you're lying to me,” Amy demanded as they walked, cautiously, down the corridor.

  
“The air all around is full of micro-machines. Robots the size of molecules. Just like the nanogenes that Rose mentioned. Now that you're unprotected, you're being re-written,” the Doctor explained.

  
“So, what happens? I get one of those things sticking out of my head?” Amy deduced from what they had seen.

  
“Physical changes come later,” he told her.

  
“What comes first? How does it start?” she asked.

  
“With your mind. Your feelings, your memories, and I'm sorry but it's started already,” he said as he scanned her with his sonic screwdriver.

 

“How long before we can't fix it, Doctor?” Rose questioned.

 

“Hard to say. Depends how hard she fights it,” he answered.

 

“How do I fight it, then?” Amy growled in frustration.

 

“Hold onto your feelings, Amy. Feelings that aren't Dalek. Scared, or happy, or or or,” he floundered.

 

“Love, Amy. Daleks don't feel love,” Rose added and they exchanged a knowing look between them.

 

“I've seen this before,” the Doctor told them, trying to give a bit of distraction as they made their way through the narrow hallways.

 

“Daleks taking over humans as slaves you mean?” Rose wondered.

 

“Yeah. Used to call them Robomen. First, they used these big metal things on their heads to control them, but they developed a surgical implant later on. Using nanotechnology only started during the War,” he explained.

 

Rose squeezed his hand in support, when their bracelets clicked together, she sent him a wave of love and reassurance that they'd get out of this with everyone safe. He still had nightmares from the Time War, even centuries later. Meeting Daleks like this meant that they were likely to increase again for a while.  
  


They walked through a doorway, but could hear the sound of Daleks ahead of them and backed out of the room.

 

“You two, stay here, don't open that door,” the Doctor instructed as he went back down the hall to a computer terminal that they had just passed. “Aria! Aria, can you hear me?” he called out, hoping that she had been monitoring their progress through the asylum.

 

“Hello, the chin. I have visual on you,” she answered as the screen activated, displaying a few readouts in the Dalek language.

  
“Why don't I have a visual on you? Why can't I ever see you?” he wondered.

  
“Limited power, bad hair, take your pick. I'm going to send you a map to that screen. I put your little friend somewhere safe. I can get you to him,” she informed him.

 

“Rory. You found Rory?” he asked quickly.

  
“He's just fine. Here we are,” she replied, a map of the area appearing on the screen.

 

Amy was looking through the window into the room ahead curiously as Rose watched her.

 

“Amy? What is it, sweetheart?” she asked.

 

“Hello? Who are you?” she whispered.

 

“Amy! Are you alright?” Rose called, grasping her arm to get her attention.

 

Amy clenched her eyes shut and pressed her hands to the sides of her head as if in terrible pain all of a sudden. Her knees buckled and she almost fell to the floor.

 

“Doctor! It's getting worse,” Rose shouted to her husband.

 

“I'm coming!” he called back to her. “Aria, how many Daleks directly ahead of us right now?”

  
“Ten, twenty? Hard to say. Some of them are catatonic but they do have firepower,” she answered and several dots appeared on the screen to indicate the Daleks identified on the sensors.

 

“Doctor, you've got to come check on her, please,” Rose said, suddenly at his side.

 

“Right, but there's Daleks ahead of us, how do we get past them? Amy!” he suddenly shouted as he saw her walking into the room on her own. Pulling Rose with him, they chased after her.

 

“Shush. It's okay, it's just people in here. It's just people,” Amy told them placatingly.

  
“Amy, it's the nanocloud, it's altering your perception. Look again. Look again. Those aren't people,” he insisted.

 

They could see the moment that she realized they were surrounded by dozens of Daleks. She tensed, frozen in fear and Rose grabbed her to pull her back out of the room with them. There wasn't time to seal the door again and one of the Daleks followed them down the hall. The three of them ducked into an alcove, knowing that it wouldn't give them cover for long.  
  


“INTRUDER,” it repeated nearby, but the sound that should have sent energy beams blasting down the corridor, simply fizzled, over and over again.

  
“It's damaged,” the Doctor realized when they peeked out to look.

 

“Stupid, rusty, tin cans. What do we do with you then?” Rose growled.   
  


“Identify me. Access your files. Who am I? Come on. Who's your daddy?” the Doctor ordered.

 

After a moment for it to access its files, the Dalek replied, “YOU ARE THE PREDATORS. THE DOCTOR AND THE ABOMINATION.”

 

“I really wish you guys would stop calling me that,” Rose complained. It was really ridiculous. All Daleks called her that, as well as some Cybermen, and other species were starting to do it as well.

  
“Access your standing orders concerning the Predators,” the Doctor demanded, ignoring his wife's irritation for the moment.

  
“THE PREDATORS MUST BE DESTROYED.”

 

“Is this a good idea, love?” Rose questioned worriedly.

  
“And how are you going to do that, Dalek? Without a gun you're a tricycle with a roof. How are you going to destroy us?” the Doctor taunted it.

  
“Self-destruct initiated,” it announced as an alarm began to sound.

  
“What's it doing?” Amy asked.

 

“Not something that I was hoping for, hope you've got a plan, my love,” Rose responded.

  
“It's going to blow itself up, and us with it. Only weapon it's got left,” he explained quickly as he pulled open the top of the Dalek and used his sonic to access the controls.

  
“SELF-DESTRUCT CANNOT BE COUNTERMANDED,” the Dalek told him.

  
“I'm not looking for a countermand, dear. I'm looking for reverse,” he replied smugly and they watched as the machine housing an insane alien began to roll back into the room with the others at an alarming rate.

  
“FORWARD, FORWARD,” the Dalek argued with its own commands, but couldn't change course before crashing into several other Daleks. The Doctor, Rose, and Amy all ducked back into the alcove as a blast of flames rolled down the corridor.  
  


The Doctor lifted the now unconscious Amy into his arms as he and Rose made their way into the room that they needed to cross. There were the exploded remains of Daleks everywhere.

 

Through the smoke, they could hear Rory calling out in confusion, “Aria? What happened? Who killed all the Daleks?”

 

When he came into sight of them, the Doctor responded, “Who do you think?”

 

 

 


	7. Asylum of the Daleks - Part 3

 

Chapter 7: Asylum of the Daleks – Part 3

 

 

They quickly explained to Rory what had happened when they were separated. He was frantically worried about why Amy was unconscious. Rose gathered from his reactions that the separation was not his idea and he might not even know why Amy was pushing him away. The Doctor laid her down on the floor, Rory hovering over her.

 

“Will sleeping help her? Will it slow down the process?” Rory questioned fearfully.

  
“You'd better hope so because pretty soon she's going to try and kill you,” Aria said over the speakers in the room.

 

They had locked themselves in this relatively safe spot. There was a large teleport pad in the middle of the room and Rose was hopeful that they might be able to get it working to get out of here once they brought the shields down.

 

“Amy,” the Doctor called to her, hoping to bring her out of it.

  
“Ow,” she grumbled and scrunched her eyes shut tightly.

  
“Amy. Still with us?” the Doctor checked again.

  
“Amy, it's me. Do you remember me?” Rory asked.

 

Without opening her eyes, she harshly slapped Rory across the face.  
  


“She remembers me,” he sighed.

  
“Same old Amy. Are you sure you're not a Tyler?” the Doctor asked.

 

“That would be a bit disturbing considering our son is married to their daughter, yeah?” Rose commented.

 

“Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek? Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?” Aria asked.

 

“Well, somebody's never been to Scotland,” Amy commented as she pushed herself up off the floor.

  
“What about you, though, Aria. How come you're okay? Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?” the Doctor questioned suspiciously.

  
“I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? And the incredible technology? Shielded in here,” she told him.

 

“Clever of you. Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. Look at it. It's a wreck,” the Doctor responded quickly, perhaps not completely believing her excuses.

 

“Well, I did come in here with the intent to make a bit of a mess,” Aria answered smugly.

  
“Who are you though? Hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen. And I'm getting the distinct impression that you know more about us than you're letting on,” he stated accusingly.

 

“I've been looking you up. You're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predators?” she deflected.

 

“Because we seem to be the only ones that can stop them,” Rose told her.

  
“We are not the Predators. I'm just a man with a plan,” he insisted.

  
“You've got a plan?” Aria asked hopefully.

 

“We're all ears,” Rory said impatiently. He clearly just wanted to get everyone safely out of there.

  
“There's a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off,” Amy teased.

  
“In no particular order, we need to neutralize all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Aria from wherever she's stuck, escape from this planet, and fix Amy and Rory's marriage,” the Doctor listed.

  
“Ok, I'm counting three lost causes. Anyone else?” Amy argued.

 

“I don't really need a rescue. Just need the shields down so that my ship can leave,” Aria told him.

  
“Makes things a little easier. Aria, there's a Dalek ship in orbit,” he instructed.

  
“Yes. Got it on the sensors,” she replied.

  
“The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn off the forcefield. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, once we get that forcefield dropped, we need to get out of here before that happens. This is a teleport. Am I right?” he explained.

  
“Yeah. Internal use only,” Aria replied.

 

“If you can work on boosting the power, I can figure out how we get that forcefield down. Once the forcefield is down, I can use it to beam us right off this planet,” the Doctor reasoned.

  
“You said when the forcefield is down, the Daleks will blow us up,” Rory argued.

  
“We'll have to be quick, yes,” the Doctor agreed.

  
“Fine, we'll be quick. But where do we beam to?” Amy asked.

  
“We need to get home. Our home is just within range of the teleport. On the Dalek ship,” the Doctor answered.

  
“They'll exterminate us on the spot,” Amy shouted.

 

“Ah, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four seconds longer,” Rory commented.

  
“What's wrong with four seconds? You can do loads in four seconds, right Rose?”

 

“Absolutely, love,” she smiled and twirled her sonic in her fingers. “Let's work on that forcefield.”

 

“And while you are all working on that?” Amy asked, hoping for some kind of fix for her nanocloud problem.

 

“You are going to remember what I told you would slow it down,” Rose told her pointedly.

 

The Doctor and Rose moved to the computer terminal to see exactly what security protocols might have gotten this apparent computer genius stuck. Meanwhile, they could see activity on the nearby teleport controls to show that Aria was fulfilling her part of the deal.

 

“Okay, look at me. I'm going to be logical. Cold and logical, okay? For both of our sakes, for both of us, I'm going to take this off my wrist and put it on yours,” Rory told Amy. He tried to keep his voice down. He knew that the Doctor and Rose wouldn't like his plan, but he didn't care, he just wanted to save Amy.

  
“Why? Then it'll just start converting you. That's not better,” Amy argued.

  
“Yes, but it'll buy us time, because it'll take longer with me,” he insisted.

  
“Sorry, what?” she questioned incredulously. Why would it take longer?

  
“It subtracts love, that's what Aria said,” he pointed out.

  
“What's that got to do with it? What does that even mean?” Amy asked.

  
“It's arithmetic. It'll take longer with me because we both know, we've always known, that... Amy, the basic fact of our relationship is that I love you more than you love me, which today is good news because it might just save both of our lives,” Rory stated, the admission clearly painful for him.

  
“How can you say that?” Amy gasped, her eyes filling with tears at his accusation.

  
“Two thousand years, waiting for you outside a box. Don't say it isn't true, you know it's true. Give me your arm. Amy!” Rory told her, his voice raising angrily at her for denying what he felt was obvious.

 

Suddenly furious with him again, Amy slapped him harshly across the face. “Don't you dare say that to me. Don't you ever dare!” she cried tearfully.

  
“Amy, you kicked me out!” he argued.

  
“You want kids! You have always wanted kids. Ever since you were a kid. And I can't have them,” she insisted.

  
“I know,” he answered, not quite understanding what this had to do with her kicking him out.

  
“Whatever they did to me at Demon's Run, I can't ever give you children. I didn't kick you out. I gave you up,” she admitted.

  
“Amy, I don't...” he began.

  
“Don't you dare talk to me about waiting outside a box, because that is nothing, Rory, nothing, compared to giving you up!” Amy told him, tears sliding down her face.

  
“Just give me your arm. Let me put this on you. Just give me your arm!” Rory insisted as he grabbed for her wrist.

  
“Don't touch me!” she shouted, but they both froze when they saw that Amy was already wearing one of the bracelets. They both looked over at the Doctor, who was smirking at them knowingly.

 

“Didn't I mention? Superior Time Lord biology,” he said cheekily.

  
“You don't even need it?” Rose questioned, shaking her head.

  
“Why didn't you just tell us?” Rory asked.

 

The Doctor didn't reply, but straightened his bow tie smugly. Rose wrapped an arm around his waist as they continued working.

 

“ _Nice work, love. There's one item off the list,”_ Rose thought to him.

 

“ _Thank you. And we'll see what we can do to fix Amy's problem after we get out of here too,”_ he assured her.

 

“Amy, you've got a daughter, yeah? Even if you can't have any more kids, maybe you should talk to her?” Aria suggested. Rose and the Doctor looked up in shock at her statement. They were sure that Jamie and River hadn't told anyone else about their pregnancy yet, but this girl implied that she knew about it.

 

“How did you know that?” Amy questioned.

 

“Oh, I think Rose mentioned something about your children being married?” Aria replied. “Anyway, think I've almost got this done, Doctor. Also, I've got an idea that might buy you a bit more than four seconds up on that Dalek ship.”

  
“And this idea is?” Rose wondered.

 

“The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web,” Aria told them.

  
“The path web, yes,” the Doctor acknowledged.

 

“I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and the Bad Wolf,” she told them.

  
“You made them forget us?” the Doctor asked incredulously. He was almost offended that they could forget him after everything he had been involved with regarding the Daleks, despite the fact that it really was just data in a massive computer.

 

“Good, eh?” Aria bragged.

 

“That's bloody brilliant,” Rose told her. “But they are still Daleks. Won't they still try to exterminate us the moment we teleport straight onto their ship anyway?”

 

“Well, I did say it would probably give you more than four seconds. Didn't say how much more,” Aria admitted.

 

“I've tried hacking into the path web. Even I couldn't do it. How can you do that, but not figure out this forcefield?” he questioned. It was difficult, yes, but nowhere near as difficult as what she just proved she was capable of.

 

“Maybe, one day, you'll meet the girl who can. Anyway, if you've got that forcefield ready, let's do this,” she told him.

 

“Hang on. I just wanted to ask you, a few times, you've said 'we.' Have you got a crew or something with you? Is everyone alright?” Rose asked her.

 

“Oh, just me and my boyfriend. He stayed inside the ship. Couldn't protect him from the nanocloud,” she answered. “If you're ready to go, I'll just go and get my ship ready to de... um, take off as well.”

  
“You didn't need me to take down the forcefield. Who are you? Why are you here?” the Doctor demanded.

 

“Can't say. Not yet. I'm feeding that teleport with energy from my ship, you'll have to use it before I can leave,” she answered.

 

“But they'll attack right away. No ship can get through the atmosphere fast enough to get away from the planet before it explodes,” Rose argued.

 

“I don't think she needs to get through the atmosphere. Do you, Aria?” the Doctor suggested.

 

“Run,” she told them.

  
“What did you say?” the Doctor asked in confusion.

  
“I've taken down the forcefield. The Daleks above have begun their attack. You'd best teleport out of here so we can all get home safely,” Aria stated.

 

“Let's go, Doctor,” Rory insisted.

 

“Right, yes. Leaving the exploding planet, in favour of hundreds of Daleks,” he replied, pulling Rose with him as he rushed over to the teleport pad. He had a remote control in his hand to activate it and in a flash of blue light, they found themselves back in the large room housing the Parliament of the Daleks. The TARDIS was right behind them and Rose turned to open the door quickly.

 

“THE ASYLUM IS DESTROYED,” the white Dalek announced.

  
“INCOMING TELEPORT FROM ASYLUM PLANET. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK,” another reported.

  
“PREPARE TO DEFEND. DEFEND. DEFEND!” the white Dalek ordered.

  
“EXPLAIN, DALEK SUPREME,” the Dalek Prime Minister demanded.

 

“You didn't really expect that little stunt to stop the Oncoming Storm and the Bad Wolf, did you?” the Doctor asked them.

  
“IDENTIFY YOURSELF. IDENTIFY. IDENTIFY,” one of the Daleks shouted.

  
“It's me. You know me. The Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. With the one you call the Abomination, we are the Predators,” he insisted. It really was a blast to his ego to have them forget him completely.

 

“Don't argue! She gave us an advantage,” Rose said under her breath as she poked him in the side with her elbow.

  
“Titles are not meaningful in this context. Doctor who?” the woman from Skaro asked.

  
“DOCTOR WHO?” the Prime Minister repeated.

  
“DOCTOR WHO?” all of the Daleks chanted around them.

 

Rose had already pushed Amy and Rory inside the TARDIS and was tugging on his sleeve to pull him to safety as well.

 

“Oh, Aria. You beauty. It worked,” he said with a grin. If he had been his last self, Rose was sure he would have giggled. “Fellas, you're never going to stop asking.”

 

Rose was happy to find that Amy would be just fine after her exposure to the nanocloud. The TARDIS medbay easily managed to clear her body of all of the microscopic robots and prevented any of their changes from affecting her. The Doctor also brought them for a quick stop in the sixty-fourth century, where a session with some properly calibrated nanogenes corrected the damage done to her at Demon's Run.

 

The Doctor and Rose were ecstatic to be leaving a much happier Amy and Rory at their house after all of this was over. They knew that it wasn't just because Amy could have children again. The two of them had finally realized that the love they felt for each other was mutual.

 

“Any idea who she was?” Rose asked her husband as they piloted their beloved ship back into the vortex.

 

“Not for sure, but I have a feeling that the official answer would be, spoilers,” he replied.

 

 


	8. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. School has been exceptionally busy, and I've just started my apprenticeship on Saturdays as well. But here is the beginning of the next story for you. I'll try not to take so long in between.

Chapter 8: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – Part 1

 

 

The Doctor and Rose dashed back to the TARDIS, having saved everyone again. They were followed, of course, and the rather handsy and insistent woman that had been flirting with the Doctor the entire time, pushed him up against the time ship.

 

“Oi there, Nefi! Hands off!” Rose shouted, pulling Queen Nefertiti away from her husband.

 

“Yes, well, lovely meeting you. Sorry about the mess,” the Doctor told her, eager to keep from terribly upsetting the queen or his wife.

 

“You think I'll just let you leave without me, after what we've just been through?” she protested.

 

“It would seem that my lovely Fortuna isn't taking too kindly to you at the moment, and besides, you've got the Egyptian people to rule, Queen Nefertiti. They'll need reassuring after that weapon-bearing, giant, alien locust attack we just stopped rather brilliantly,” the Doctor insisted. Nefertiti glared at Rose, not convinced that the woman was worthy competition. Rose glared right back at her; several centuries with her husband had given her plenty of confidence in the strength of their relationship.

 

The Doctor glanced between them nervously until the mobile in his pocket chirped. He pulled it out and glanced at the information displayed.

 

“Jamie? Torchwood?” Rose wondered.

 

“Oh dear, no. I've got it set to Temporal News for You. That's interesting, come along, love,” he said as he pulled Rose into the TARDIS to check the scanners for more information.

 

Nefertiti followed them inside, earning her another glare from Rose over her shoulder.

 

“What's interesting?” the queen asked as she took in the inside of the time ship.

 

“Take a look at this, Rose. Nothing. Not interesting. Not at all,” he added to the uninvited guest. “Ooh, never been there. Exciting!” the Doctor couldn't help but ramble as he looked at the monitor.

 

“Is she coming too?” Rose whispered to him as he began setting the coordinates.

 

“No time to argue about it, we'll bring her back later,” he assured her.

 

After visiting the Indian Space Agency in 2367, they discovered that a large space ship was headed on a collision course for Earth and it wasn't communicating its intent. He seemed to recognize enough of the ship type to decide who he wanted to bring along for help.

 

Rose never really liked Riddell, but he tried to flirt with her almost as much as Nefertiti was doing with the Doctor, so she went along with his plan for now. Perhaps he was trying to pin them against each other so that they'd leave them alone. Rose had her doubts.

 

“One more trip! We need to pick up the Ponds!” the Doctor announced to their growing team and proceeded to materialize around Amy and Rory. Of course, without checking with them first, meant that the ship also picked up their current company. Rose noticed not only Rory's father, Brian on board, but Jamie and a rather pregnant River as well.

 

“Umm, sweetheart,” Rose interrupted, trying to get her husband's attention as he continued to twirl around the console, setting their next coordinates.

 

“Hello! You weren't busy, were you? Well, even if you were, it wasn't as interesting as this probably is. Didn't want you to miss it. Now, just a quick hop,” he rambled.

 

“Dad, we weren't going to involve River in anything...” Jamie began, but the Doctor was thoroughly focused on his current mission and hadn't even noticed the extra passengers yet.

 

“Everybody grab a torch,” the Doctor called as he grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her out of the TARDIS and into the large spaceship they had boarded.

 

With an exasperated sigh, the others exited the ship behind them and took in the odd surroundings. It was obviously some kind of large room, but there were plants, dirt, and the air seemed oddly fresh despite the cobwebs all around them.

 

“Some kind of spaceship, yeah?” River asked.

 

“Spiders. Don't normally get spiders in space,” the Doctor commented.

 

“Except in some weird, horror, sci-fi movies,” Rose added.

 

“What the?” Brian gasped when he stepped out of the TARDIS.

 

“Don't move! Do you really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice? How did you get aboard, eh? Transmat? Who sent you?” the Doctor shouted as he aggressively approached Brian.

 

Rose and Jamie both rolled their eyes at his frequent tendency to miss the obvious.

  
“Doctor. That's my dad,” Rory informed him.

  
“Well frankly, that's outrageous,” the Doctor responded angrily.

  
“What?” Rory gasped in shock.

 

“Dad! Stop it!” Jamie interrupted before he could embarrass himself any further.

 

“Jamie? What are you doing here?” the Doctor questioned, earning himself another eye roll from his son.

 

“Doctor, we materialized around everyone that happened to be at Amy and Rory's house. Which means, that you've now pulled our very pregnant daughter-in-law into what could be a rather dangerous situation,” Rose explained now that he was finally paying attention.   
  
“Oh. Well, yes. My mistake. Hello, Brian. How are you? Nice to meet you. Welcome, welcome. This is the gang. I've got a gang. Yes. Come on then, everyone,” the Doctor rambled nervously as he considered all of the new variables involved with the unplanned additions to their group.

  
“Tell him something, quick,” Amy whispered to her husband.

  
“Yes, thank you!” Rory replied.

  
“I'm not entirely sure what's going on,” Brian announced. “Did she say daughter-in-law? And hang on, you said dad?” He looked confusedly between all of the adults that appeared quite similar in ages.

 

“Right. As we were about to explain before we were so rudely abducted from our own sitting room, we have some slightly confusing family-type news to give you. You know when Amy and I first got married and we went travelling?” Rory began.

  
“To Thailand,” Brian responded with the excuse he had been given at the time.

  
“More the entirety of space and time. In that police box,” Rory corrected.

 

“As much as I'd love to finish our planned discussion with Brian, I think it would be best to put that off for a moment and determine what the current emergency is. I don't want River here any longer than necessary at the moment,” Jamie interrupted as the entire ship rumbled ominously.  
  
“Well, I sense it's orbiting. More like pre-crashing. On a spaceship, don't know. Hello, Ponds, and Tylers! Time flies, how far along are you, River? This is Nefi, this is Riddell. They're with us,” the Doctor babbled rapidly as he hugged his son and daughter-in-law.

 

“Don't worry, Jamie. We won't let anything happen to your precious cargo,” Rose assured him as she also hugged everyone in greeting.

  
“Charmed,” Riddell said as he kissed the back of Amy's hand. Rory glared at him and took his wife's hand possessively.

  
“With you? They're with you? Are they the new us? Is that why we haven't seen you?” Amy demanded. She rolled her eyes at Rory's jealousy over the cheesy-looking man in safari gear.

  
“No. They're just people. They're not Ponds. I thought we might need a new gang. Not really had a gang before. It's new,” the Doctor defended himself against her sudden onslaught.

 

“Oh Amy, of course they aren't replacing you. You're family. We had one adventure with Nefi over there and the Doctor just picked up Riddell because he thought he might be useful for some unknown reason. And there is nothing new about you having a gang, love. We were quite a large group when we stopped Davros and I came back to you,” Rose clarified for everyone.

 

They were all interrupted from their discussion by the sound of some kind of machinery on the other side of the room. Red lights began to flash around a large bulkhead door, warning them of something important about to happen.  
  


“It's coming down,” the Doctor announced.

  
“What is it?” Riddell questioned as he braced himself for a fight of some kind.

  
“No idea,” the Doctor replied excitedly.

 

“More fun that way,” his wife added with a smirk.

 

The giant cargo lift stopped with a loud thump and the doors opened to reveal two large ankylosaurs. The creatures roared loudly and stormed toward the startled group as they all ran out of the way before they were trampled to death.  
  
“Not possible,” Brian insisted with wide eyes.

  
“Run!” the Doctor shouted, urging everyone to safety as he clutched his wife's hand tightly. Their wedding bracelets clicked together and their mutual excitement flared even brighter in their minds. This was the kind of thing they lived for. The thrill of something new and the danger that was always involved in saving the world yet again.

  
“I love this!” Rose beamed at him.

  
“I know. Dinosaurs! On a spaceship!” he exclaimed happily and pulled her along behind the others as they ran from the stampeding dinosaurs.  
  


“This way!” River shouted, dragging her husband along behind her despite the added weight of the baby.

  
“In here!” Nefertiti agreed as she ducked into an alcove that was too small for the beasts behind them, but large enough to fit the group of people safely.

  
With everyone safely gathered in the space, the experienced travellers checked each other over for injuries.

 

“I could take one of them. Short blow up into the throat,” Riddell said as he drew a large hunting knife.

 

“What?!” Jamie gasped, wondering just why his father had brought along such a violent man.

  
“Or not. We've just found dinosaurs in space. We need to preserve them,” the Doctor chastised.

  
“Who's going to preserve us?” Riddell argued.

 

“Me,” River snapped.

  
“Shush,” Amy interjected and watched as the dinosaurs finally gave up on waiting for them to come back out again, and left the area.

  
“Okay, so, how and whose ship?” Rory asked.

 

“Good questions, Rory,” Rose said approvingly.

 

“Quite right, there's so much to discover. Think how wise we'll be by the end of all this,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Sorry, sorry. Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?” Brian asked, still rather confused by everything.

  
“Brian, please, that would be ridiculous. They're probably just passengers. Did I mention missiles?” the Doctor responded.

  
“Missiles?!” Brian shouted.

 

“Dad! Honestly!” Jamie groaned. He had managed to keep his pregnant wife away from trouble for the past eight months. Now that she was reaching a stage where running for their lives was getting harder, they had to get pulled into a crashing spaceship, being targeted by missiles, and filled with dinosaurs.

  
“Didn't want to worry you. Anyway, six hours is a lifetime. Not literally a lifetime. That's what we're trying to avoid. And we're all really clever. Ooo, let's see what we can find out. Come on,” the Doctor explained briefly as he ran to a nearby computer interface. He swept a cobweb out of the way as he visually inspected the computer.

 

Amy looked at the gouges in the wall and asked, “How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?”

 

“Who knows,” Jamie replied and approached his mother. Rose could feel his worry quite clearly and hugged him tightly. “We were doing so well.”

 

“Oh, sweetheart, it'll be alright. Would you feel better going back to the TARDIS? Or taking her back home with your vortex manipulator?” Rose suggested.

 

“We haven't got them right now. I don't like the idea of River travelling with that while she's pregnant anyway. Besides, mum, you know the TARDIS could have taken you to pick up Amy and Rory at a point when we weren't there. You might need us, and we're part of events at this point,” he told her honestly.

 

“You are rubbish at this,” River grumbled as the Doctor struggled to get the computer to respond. She pulled out her own sonic from the trip to the Library and with a quick buzz, the monitor blinked to life.  
  


“Right, yes, fine,” the Doctor sputtered, embarrassed to be shown up by his daughter-in-law. River, Rory and Brian all looked over his shoulders at the screen to see what he could find. “Oh, well done, whoever you are. Looking for engines.” At his request, the display switched to show him the location of all of the engines on the ship. “Thank you, computer. Look at that. Different sections have engines, but these look like the primary clusters. Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines,” he commented and in a flash, everyone at the computer station disappeared.  
  


“Fantastic,” Rose sighed sarcastically.

 


	9. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but school has been very busy lately.

Chapter 9: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: Part 2

 

The Doctor, along with River, Rory, and Brian all found themselves standing on a cold, grey beach.

 

“Find out... What?” the Doctor gasped as he realized that he was no longer staring at the computer screen he had been studying.

 

“We're outside. We're on a beach,” Brian said, shocked once again to have been relocated so quickly.

 

“Teleport. Oh, I hate teleports. Must have activated on my voice,” the Doctor cursed.

 

“Ah, yes, well, thank you, Arthur C Clarke. Teleport, obviously. I mean, we're on a spaceship with dinosaurs. Why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact, why don't we just teleport now?” Brian responded mockingly.

 

“Is he all right?” the Doctor asked.

 

“No, he hates travelling. Makes him really anxious. He only goes to the paper shop and golf,” Rory informed him

 

“What did you bring him for?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“I didn't! Why can't you just phone ahead like any normal person?” Rory shouted in exasperation.

 

“Dad, calm down.  James and Rose will take care of this, they’re still back where we came from,” River assured her father.

 

“Somebody tell me where we are, now.  Hang on, did she say, dad?” Brian demanded.

 

“Oh, not now,” Rory grumbled.

 

The Doctor opened his mouth wide to taste the air and commented, “Well, it's not Earth. Doesn't taste right. Too metallic.  And Rose and Jamie don’t feel all that far away from us either.”

 

“Is that a kestrel?” Brian asked, pointing to something flying nearby.

 

“I do hope so,” the Doctor replied, though he had his doubts that it was anything so benign.

 

“The beach is humming,” Rory told them.

 

“Is it? Oh yes. Right, well, don't just stand there, you three. Dig. I'm going to look at rocks. Love a rock,” the Doctor instructed and walked up the beach towards a large rock formation nearby.

 

“Dig with what?” Rory shouted after him.

 

“Ah, well,” Brian commented as he pulled a trowel out of his pocket.  At the same time, River produced a similar object from her small (bigger on the inside) purse.  Both of them began digging in the sand.

 

“Did you just have that on you?” Rory asked.

 

“Of course. What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list,” Brian told him.

 

“I’m an archeologist.  What do you expect me to keep in my bag?” River added with a roll of her eyes.

 

“You could fit anything you like in that thing, River.  Dad, for your information, I'm thirty one. I don't have a Christmas list any more,” Rory responded grumpily.

 

“I do!” the Doctor shouted from nearby as he jumped up to talk to them.

 

Brian’s trowel struck something metal and he cleared away enough sand to see that there was a flat surface beneath it all.  “There's a floor under this beach!” he called out his discovery.

 

“Nice work, Brian!” River praised and contacted her husband,  _ “I think we’re still on the ship with you, just teleported to a different area.” _

 

#####################

 

Rose and Jamie led the group through the ship, hoping to find another interface as the one that the Doctor had been working on, shorted out in a cloud of black smoke immediately after transporting the others away.

 

_ “Where are you?” _ Rose asked her husband, feeling that he was still relatively close.

 

_ “Working on it.  Not quite sure yet,” _ he answered, but was clearly distracted by trying to work out what had happened.

 

“There's clearly more than just two of these creatures,” Riddell announced and took a drink from his hip flask.

 

“Hey, put that away. I need you sober,” Amy ordered, clearly feeling like he was the one that could physically defend them for the moment.

 

“It's medicinal. And I don't take orders from females,” Riddell answered, earning him an exasperated eye roll from Rose.

 

“Then learn. Any man who speaks to me that way, I execute,” Nefertiti informed him haughtily.

 

“You're very welcome to try,” Riddell responded with enough innuendo to put Jack to shame.

 

“Put a sock in it, Riddell,” Rose snapped at him.

 

“Sorry, what was your name again?” Amy asked.

 

“Lady of the Two Lands, wife of the great King Amenhotep, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt,” she replied.

 

“I'll be damned,” Riddell whispered in awe as he stared at her.

 

“Oh, my god. Queen Nefertiti? I learned all about you at school. You're awesome. Big fan. High five. Yeah, bit behind on that. You're really famous,” Amy gushed in a sudden fan-girl moment.

 

“Which somehow gives her the impression that it is acceptable to come onto my husband,” Rose growled.

 

“The Doctor? What for?” Amy questioned, scrunching her face.

 

“Shush. Listen,” Riddell interrupted.  They all noticed the sound of heavy breathing from another dinosaur nearby and spotted a relatively small Tyrannosaurus sleeping nearby.

 

“Suddenly very glad that my wife is not here,” James commented.

 

“Okay. At a guess, T Rex, not yet full size. We're in the middle of a dinosaur nest,” Amy announced, pointing out the unhatched eggs surrounding them.

 

“Astute observations, Amy,” James told her.

 

“I propose a retreat,” Riddell suggested, until they noticed the shadows of more carnivores arriving from that side.

 

“Too late for that, I’m afraid.  Onwards, everyone,” Rose instructed.

 

“Agreed. Just don't wake the baby,” Amy added.

 

They were all extremely careful in stepping around the sleeping dinosaurs and eggs.  Managing not to draw unwanted attention to themselves, the group eventually made it to another clear area.

 

“Who are you, anyway?” Amy asked the unknown man.

 

“John Riddell, big game hunter on the African plains. I'm sure you've heard of me, too,” he replied, his voice dripping with masculine pride.

 

“No,” Amy scoffed.

 

“Mum, what are you and dad doing travelling with a hunter?” James gasped.

 

“Certainly not my choice. Blame your father,” Rose assured him.

 

“You clearly have some alarming gaps in your education,” Riddell told Amy, irritated by everyone's sudden dislike of him.

 

“Or men who hunt defenceless creatures just don't impact on history. Face it, she's way cooler than you,” Amy responded with more praise for the Egyptian Queen.

 

“The Doctor insists that his Rose is a Goddess. What about you, Amy? Are you also a Queen?” Nefertiti asked.

 

“Yes. Yes, I am,” she answered, feeling slightly inferior after having heard the stories about Rose and agreeing with at least moderate Goddess status for her.

 

“My mother is indeed a Goddess, known by many names.  The Bad Wolf, and Fortuna for example. You'll not question that again,” James interrupted in defence of his mother, especially having heard her complaints that the woman had been hitting on his father. He decided that the change of topic would be enough to keep her from further questioning Amy and forcing her to make up some kind of royal status.

 

########################

 

“See? Metal floors, screens in rocks. It was just a matter of a short range teleport. We're still on the ship,” the Doctor told the others.

 

“I had gathered that based on the metal floor under the beach,” River informed him.

 

“No, we're outside on a beach,” Brian insisted, looking up at the grey sky.

 

“It's part of the ship, dad,” Rory replied.

 

“Don't be ridiculous.”

 

“Well, it is quite ridiculous. Also brilliant. That's why the system teleported us here. I wanted the engines,” the Doctor reasoned. “This is the engine room! Hydrogenerators! Ha!”

 

“I have literally no idea what he's saying,” Brian announced.

 

“A spaceship powered by waves,” Rory translated for his father.

 

“Fabulously impossible. Oh, think of the things we could learn from this ship if we manage to stop it being blown to pieces,” the Doctor told them excitedly.  _ “The ship is powered by Hydrogenerators!”  _ he added to his wife.

 

“Plus not dying,” Rory pointed out.

 

“The trouble with that is, we can't just shut it off.  We need to find the brakes instead,” River told them worriedly.

 

“Yes, that would be the bad news, can't shut the wave system down in time. Takes, way too long,” the Doctor admitted and looked a bit nervously toward the sky behind the others.

 

“If these are the engines, there must be a control room,” Rory reasoned.

 

“Exactly. That's what we need to find. Now, what do we do about the things that aren't kestrals?” he added and they all turned to see what he was staring at.  A flock of large, flying dinosaurs was gathering nearby and beginning to swoop in their direction.

 

“Oh my lord. Are those pterodactyls?” Brian cried fearfully.

 

“Yes. On any other occasion, I'd be thrilled. Exposed on a beach, less thrilled. We should be going,” the Doctor told them, scanning the area for cover.

 

“Where?” Brian questioned.

 

“Er, definitely away from them,” the Doctor replied, not having spotted anywhere safe just yet.

 

“That's the plan?” Rory asked.

 

“You expected more from the Doctor?” River snarked as she started heading towards an opening in the cliffs ahead of them.

 

“That's the plan. Amendments welcome. Move away from the pterodactyls,” the Doctor told them.

 

The creatures started swooping closer to them as they retreated and Rory announced, “I think they might be noticing.”

 

“Amendment one, run!” the Doctor shouted as they all started sprinting faster.

 

“Why don't we just teleport or something?” Rory wondered.

 

“There should have been some controls for it at that screen you found in the rocks,” River added.

 

“I did check that. Local teleport burnt out on arrival,” he replied.

 

“Then we'd best get to that opening over there quickly,” River recommended with another burst of speed.

 

“Come on!” Rory called to his father who was having trouble keeping up.

 

“I'm trying!” Brian countered.

 

Rory and Brian stumbled through the opening, the pterodactyls snapping behind them loudly.  Rory clutched at a scratch on his shoulder, but decided that it would be alright for the moment.

 

“Are you alright?” Brian asked worriedly.

 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” he insisted, rolling his eyes when River pulled some kind of spray out of her purse to clean him up. “Right, what do we do now? There's no way back out there.”

 

“Through the cave. Come on,” the Doctor told them, confidently leading them deeper into the cave.  They all stopped in their tracks, however, when they heard a loud thumping noise ahead of them. “That suggestion was a work in progress.”

 

“We're trapped,” Brian gasped.

 

“Yes, thanks for spelling it out,” the Doctor commented.

 

“Doctor, whatever's down there is coming this way,” Rory added.

 

“Spelling it out is hereditary. Wonderful,” the Doctor sighed.

 

“I take after mum,” River grumbled.

 

“That sound's getting nearer,” Brian announced as if the rest of them couldn’t tell that for themselves.

 

The four of them watched as two large robots approached ominously.

 

“We're very cross with you,” one of them informed the group.

 

_ “I think we’re about to be taken to the person in charge, love,” _ the Doctor informed his wife.

 

_ “Inconvenient, but usually informative,” _ she replied.

 

#########################

 

Rose, Jamie, Amy, Nefertiti, and Riddell had safely made their way further through the ship and seemed to have found a laboratory of some kind.  Rose squealed with delight when she spotted a computer terminal and ran over to try and access the teleport controls or some way to put on the brakes.

 

“Bit of weed killer wouldn't go amiss in here,” Amy commented, looking around the abandoned room.

 

“Whoever was running this vessel left in a hurry,” Riddell added.

 

“Maybe a plague came and took them,” Nefertiti suggested based on the knowledge from her time.

 

“No, there'd be corpses and bones,” Riddell argued.

 

“Unless the animals ate them,” Nefertiti countered.

 

“Whoa, Chuckle Brothers. Lighten up, would you?” Amy interrupted.

 

Rose ignored all of them as she restored power to the room and turned up the lights as well as accessing the computer systems.  Jamie was looking over her shoulder, surprised at how well his mother was managing with the computer.

 

“How'd you know how to do that?” Nefertiti questioned.

 

“Actually, I was wondering the same thing, mum,” Jamie added.

 

“Sweetheart, I’m now a few centuries older than you.  You may have the Time Lord brain in there, but I have learned a few things over the years.  A Silurian computer system is no problem, thank you,” Rose informed her son.

 

“Centuries?  Which Goddess are you?  I’ve not heard of this Fortuna he mentioned,” Nefertiti asked, suddenly believing their previous claims.

 

“Your closest equivalent would be Ma'at in Egypt,” Jamie told her.

 

“Which would make your husband, Thoth? The god of wisdom?” she asked.

 

“Sounds about right,” Rose replied proudly and slipped a nearby data disk into the computer.  A video log from one of the scientists began to play.

 

“One hundred and seventeen years,” a voice sounded from the recording.

 

“Data records,” Amy commented.

 

“The ship's owners?” Riddell asked.

 

“Yes.  Well, as mum mentioned, we know that this technology is Silurian from the language.  It would also explain the dinosaurs.  They lived on Earth around the same time,” James informed them.

 

“Mainly cryogenic,” the recording continued, but the degradation meant that there was only static where the image should be and the audio was choppy at best. “I will continue to work.”

 

“I can’t seem to boost it any further,” Rose admitted.  “Care to give it a try, Jamie?” 

 

The young Time Lord took her place at the interface and made a few adjustments to the playback, clearing up the picture and the audio tracks.

 

“Look. Oh, it's beautiful,” Nefertiti commented as she got her first view of the Silurian scientist.

 

“I can't tell how far we have come. Far enough to avoid the destructive impact forecast for our planet. Far enough for me to feel a profound sense of loss,” the Silurian continued.

 

“What is that?” Riddell questioned as he stared at the green figure on the screen.

 

“That was the dominant species on Earth before humans came along,” Rose informed him. 

 

################################

 

“You're going straight on the naughty step,” the large robot informed them with its gun pointed in their direction.

 

“What's the escape plan?” Brian whispered to the Doctor.

 

“Why do we want to escape?” the Doctor whispered back.

 

“They have us hostage,” Brian replied.

 

“They're taking us somewhere. We might learn from it,” Rory explained, having caught onto this particular method of information gathering over his time with the Doctor and Rose.

 

The Doctor beamed at Rory happily as he pinched the man’s cheek. “Oh, you see? He's so clever. I've missed you, Rory.”

 

“Don't do that,” Rory grumbled.

 

“What if they kill us?” Brian asked, not particularly happy with the plan of being taken prisoner.

 

“They wouldn't do that. You're not going to kill us, are you, Rusty?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Who are you calling Rusty?” the robot argued.

 

“Have you seen yourselves lately?” the Doctor countered.

 

“You try being on this ship for two millennia. See how your paintwork does,” the robot responded petulantly.

 

“Don't listen to him. He's just being mean because we captured him,” the other robot commented.

 

It was at that moment, that a large triceratops wandered over to the group and began sniffing everyone.  The creature seemed quite friendly and curious about the visitors.

 

“Oh, my goodness,” Brian gasped nervously.

 

“It’s beautiful!” River cooed.

 

“Whoa!” Rory cried when the dinosaur bumped against him a little harder than he expected.

 

“Ooo!” the Doctor said excitedly as he reached to pet the beast affectionately. “Herbivore. Don't panic. Triceratops. Ha! Beautiful.”

 

“Shall I shoot it?” one of the robots asked the other.

 

“We're not supposed to shoot the creatures, stupid,” the other answered.

 

“Stop calling me stupid,” the first protested.

 

The triceratops groaned contentedly as the Doctor patted its head.  “Roar yourself. Hello, cutie. Good boy. Who's a lovely Tricy then? Yes, you are. Yes, you are.”

 

Brian became more nervous as the creature sniffed him intently and started nudging at him.  “What do I do? What do I do? What're you doing? What're you doing?” he whined as the dinosaur wouldn’t leave him alone.

 

“You don't have any vegetable matter in your trousers, do you, Brian?” the Doctor asked, not sure why it was so interested in Brian.

 

“Only my balls,” Brian replied.

 

“I'm sorry?” the Doctor questioned, wide eyed.

 

“Golf balls. Grassy residue,” he answered as he pulled a couple of golf balls from his pocket.

 

River couldn’t contain her laughter.

 

“What are you carrying those around for?” Rory asked incredulously.

 

Brian merely shrugged before he found himself being licked affectionately by a very large and smelly dinosaur.  He grunted, clearly disgusted by the slimy residue left behind.

 

“Oh, bless,” the Doctor commented.

 

“Get it away from me!” Brian pleaded.

 

“Oh, give me that,” River interrupted and grabbed one of the golf balls from his hand.  She held it up in front of the curious triceratops and acted as if playing fetch with a large puppy.  “Is this what you want?  Want the ball?  Go get it!” she called and threw the ball down the wide corridor.  The excited creature bounded after it happily.

 

“Nicely done, and breath out,” the Doctor told his companions, then returned his attention to their captors.  “Right, take us to your leader.”

 

“Really?” Rory questioned as River scoffed.

 

“Too good to resist,” he replied.

 

###############################

 

The information provided by the Silurian scientist, who identified himself as Bleytal, told them that the ship had been designed as an Ark.  They were escaping the predicted catastrophe that had sent the others underground, and hoping to save some of the dinosaurs as well.  The plan was to have them repopulate wherever they landed.

 

Riddell argued that the idea was nonsense, but was quickly out voted by all of the others.

 

“The question now is, where are all the Silurians?  ‘Cause I’m not seeing anyone about to take care of these guys and the Doctor just told me that they’re being taken somewhere,” Rose wondered.

 

“Well, let’s have a look then,” James acknowledged and began searching the internal scanners.  “Display life signs for Homo Reptilia,” he requested but was met with a response of ‘No Life Signs Detected.’

 

“But where have they gone?” Amy asked.

 

“Perhaps they found another world, left the ship,” Nefertiti suggested.

 

“They wouldn’t have left all the dinosaurs here.  They’re more compassionate than that,” Rose insisted.

 

“And why is the ship coming back to Earth? It doesn't make sense,” Amy added.

 

“Well, dad will find out soon who’s in charge around here, but I’m willing to bet that whoever it is, wasn’t particularly friendly to the Silurians,” James commented.  He continued to check the ship’s logs and scanners, ultimately finding another ship docked in the centre of the large web of sections that made up the spherical design. “Bingo,” he said as he zoomed in on that section.

 

“What is it?” Riddell asked.

 

“Another spacecraft. This ship's been boarded before,” Amy deducted.

 

_ “The Silurians are gone and I’m willing to bet that you’re headed towards the small spaceship that is docked with this one.  The ship was meant to be an Ark so they could repopulate the dinosaurs,”  _ Rose informed her husband.


	10. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping to finish up this little story arc soon. I'll be skipping a bit after this as I hate retelling stories where I'm not changing much. It's part of what's held me up on this one (didn't feel like I changed enough, but there are some important things happening in announcing stuff and whatnot).

Chapter 10: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – Part 3

 

 

The Doctor considered the information that his wife had given him as he approached the small craft they'd been led to. There was soft piano music playing, but the ship was in sloppy disrepair.

 

“Love what you've done to the place down here,” the Doctor commented to the person who was presumably in charge and hiding out.

 

“Let him in. Open the gate,” a man's voice called out.

 

The Doctor walked through the now open gate, only to have it slam shut behind him, blocking the others from following. “It's fine. It's fine,” he assured them calmly. The last thing he needed was for River to start firing her blaster around while he was gathering information.

 

“He's not interested in you,” one of the robots said tauntingly.

 

“Look, you need to learn some manners,” Rory argued with it.

 

“No, you need to learn some manners,” the robot replied.

 

River rolled her eyes as the two continued to argue over which of them was being rude.

 

The Doctor came upon an elderly man, lying on a medical bed. He was hooked up to several scanning devices and obviously not getting any better for it.

 

“Fantasia in F minor for four hands,” the Doctor commented as he admired the music playing.

 

“You know it,” the man sneered.

 

“Know it? Say hello to hands three and four. Schubert kept tickling me to try to put me off. Franz the hands. Oh, that takes me back. Well, this is cosy,” the Doctor told him, taking in as much information about the ship and its pilot as he could from his surroundings.

 

“It's fate you came,” the man said with a pained smile.

 

“Is it? I'm the Doctor.”

 

“Yes, I know. I'm Solomon,” he replied.

 

A bright beam of light flashed over the Doctor from head to toe in some sort of scan. He knew that there was nothing innocent about it, since he was apparently dealing with a pirate who had done something terrible to the Silurians who should be on the ship. “What's that?”

 

“System malfunction. Ignore it,” Solomon responded dismissively.

 

“What happened to you?” the Doctor questioned as he took in the man's injuries.

 

“I was attacked. Three raptors. They cornered me. The robots rescued me but it was nearly too late.”

 

“Ah yes, the robots. They're unusual,” the Doctor said with a backward glance to where he could hear River and Rory arguing with them.

 

“I got them cheap from a concession on Alyria Seven. The robots did as best they could with my legs, but you can help me so much more,” Solomon replied.

 

“Oh. A _doctor_ doctor. I see. Let's have a look,” the Doctor said as he looked more closely at the injuries and the scanning equipment that was monitoring him.

 

“They chewed through part of the bone in my legs,” he sighed, falling back on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

 

“Yes. Very nasty,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“But you can repair them?” he asked hopefully. This situation might give the Doctor a chance to bargain with the man a bit.

 

“If you tell me how you came by so many dinosaurs,” the Doctor responded, making it clear that this wasn't a social call or mission of mercy.

 

“Injure the oldest one,” Solomon shouted to the robots.

 

“What?” the Doctor gasped and ran back to the gate to check on them.

 

One of the robots proceeded to shoot Brian in the shoulder. He cried out and collapsed back against the wall as he clutched at the wound protectively. Rory crouched beside him to make sure he was alright, his nursing instincts taking over. River glared at the machine angrily, but didn't dare take out her blaster and put them in even more danger.

 

“Dad! Dad! It's all right, Dad. It's okay,” Rory told him as he moved his shirt out of the way to check on him.

 

“I don't respond well to violence, Solomon,” the Doctor responded angrily.

 

“And I don't like questions, Doctor. You boarded without my permission. Now, fix me, or the next bolt will be fatal,” Solomon insisted and the Doctor began to do what he could to keep the man alive, if not particularly mobile. He took his time and relayed what was happening to his wife while he worked.

 

“When this is over, I will personally see both of you dismantled and melted down for scrap metal,” River growled at the robots.

 

“Oh, I'm so scared,” the robot replied mockingly. “Actually, I might be. A little bit of oil just came out.”

 

“Now, stay still. It's just a burn, it's nothing serious,” Rory said as he took a small medical kit from his pocket.

 

“What's that?” Brian asked, looking at the futuristic supplies curiously.

 

“You carry a trowel, I carry a med-pack. It's all about the pockets in our family. This is an ice patch. It cools the skin,” Rory told him.

 

“Never seen one of those,” Brian commented, sighing a bit as the cold patch was placed over the burn on his shoulder.

 

“I pick up cool stuff wherever we go. For some people it's cars and hardware, for me it is nursing supplies. Now, painkiller. This won't hurt,” Rory answered and proceeded to jab a small syringe into his arm, prompting a shout from the older man. “I lied. It won't hurt from now on, though. All right, you're done.”

 

“Did mum ever tell you that I did just that to her once before you started travelling on the TARDIS?” River asked, remembering their little adventure beneath the Byzantium.

 

“Afraid not. I'll have to ask her about it, unless the amount of danger she was in would leave me better off not knowing, that is,” Rory replied.

 

“Thanks,” Brian said to his son as he put his shirt back in place.

 

“It's all right. You get to see my awesome nursing skills in action for once,” Rory said with a smile.

 

On the ship, the Doctor was still working on repairing as much of Solomon's injuries as possible. He wasn't a surgeon by any means, but he had acquired a few doctorates over the centuries. The Doctor didn't really want the man back in peak condition anyway, if he had to stop him from hurting his family while they were here.

 

“How did you get on board, Doctor?” Solomon questioned, distracting him from his thoughts about the current situation.

 

“Oh, I never talk about myself with a gun pointed at me. Let's talk about you. Your cosy little craft embedded in a vast old ship,” he responded. He still hadn't learned what had happened to the Silurians or what the man's plans were for the dinosaurs and the larger ship.

 

“You're very observant,” Solomon commented warily.

 

“I'm a Sagittarius, probably,” the Doctor replied.

 

“I'm transporting it to the Roxborne Peninsula.”

 

“A commerce colony. You're a trader,” the Doctor realized. That meant that this man was looking for money, and wouldn't care who he stepped on along the way. That made their job much more dangerous. Foolish scientists and explorers could be reasoned with, but greed was far more powerful a motivator than logic.

 

“I search out opportunities for profit across nine galaxies,” he boasted.

 

“Ah, the purple light. That's what it was. An IV system, identifying value. The database of everything across space and time allocated a market value. Argos for the universe. You were trying to find out how much I'm worth,” the Doctor guessed.

 

“Would you like to know?” Solomon asked as he clicked a few keys. The computer displayed, 'No Identification Found.' The man frowned and grumbled, “You don't exist. It's never done that.”

 

“That's me. Worthless,” the Doctor said with a smirk. Just the way he liked it. “Unlike these creatures you have on board. Very valuable, given they're extinct. Done. Sit up, very slowly.”

 

The elderly man pushed himself up from where he had been lying and tested his limbs warily.

“The pain in my legs is gone. I can move them. Thank you, Doctor,” he said honestly.

 

“What did you do to the Silurians?” the Doctor asked, getting straight to the point, now that he'd completed the demands of his captor.

 

“We ejected them. The robots woke them from cryosleep a handful at a time and jettisoned them from the airlocks. We must have left a trail of dust and bone,” Solomon admitted.

 

“Because you wanted the dinosaurs,” the Doctor sighed, disgusted at the flippant way the man dismissed his own murder of so many innocent people. He continued relaying what he was learning about the man to Rose, hoping that between them, they could come up with a plan to keep everyone safe.

 

“Their ship crossed my path. I sent out a distress signal, they let me board, and when I saw the cargo things became more complex.”

 

“Piracy and then genocide,” the Doctor accused, disgust clear in his tone.

 

“Very emotive words, Doctor.”

 

“Oh, I'm a very emotive man,” he replied, hoping Solomon hadn't learned the nature of the relationships he had to the people he brought with him. This seemed like the type of man that would press any advantage.

 

“The lizards wouldn't negotiate. I made them a generous offer,” Solomon countered, as if the fact that he had tried to negotiate would excuse his crimes.

 

“The creatures on board this ship are not objects to be sold or traded.”

 

“I feel like you're judging me.”

 

“You said Roxborne Peninsula, so why are you heading to Earth? You're on the wrong course,” the Doctor wondered. Solomon's face fell as if a crucial weakness had just been revealed. “Oh, you don't know how. Brilliant. You couldn't change the pre-programmed course without instructions. The ship defaulted, returned home. Oh dear. The Silurians outwitted you even after you'd massacred them, so now you're a prisoner on the ship you hijacked.” The Doctor smirked at the way karma worked sometimes.

 

“Not now you're here. You're going to help me go wherever I want to go, Doctor,” Solomon countered confidently.

 

“Little bit of news, Solomon. You're being targeted by missiles. Get off this ship while you still can,” the Doctor warned, hoping that his day might be that easy, but doubting it would ever happen.

 

“You think I believe that? You just want them for yourself. You won't profit from me, Doctor,” he responded.

 

“Don't ever judge me by your standards,” the Doctor snarled, sonicking the gate controls as he moved to exit the ship abruptly. “Well, don't just stand there, you three,” he called to Rory, River and Brian. They hurried to follow him as he addressed the robots, “Hey, he wants to see you.”

 

“Dad, up!” Rory whispered as he and River helped Brian back onto his feet. The Doctor seemed to be making a bit of an escape and it was best not to be left behind.

 

There was some protesting from the group as the Doctor insisted on making their escape from the robots riding on the triceratops they'd met earlier. It was no small feat for River to jump onto it while pregnant, but she was never one to back down from a challenge.

 

“If my water breaks from all this running around, Doctor, you'll be the one answering to James for it!” River shouted at him.

 

“You'll be just fine, River, made of tougher stuff than that. Go, Tricy. Run like the wind!” the Doctor demanded of the immobile dinosaur.

 

The robots were firing their lasers past them with the accuracy of a blind storm trooper, but they needed to get going before the stupid things caught up with them. “Quick, how do you start a Triceratops?”

 

River and Rory both rolled their eyes, but Brian pulled one of his golf balls from his pocket and tossed it ahead of them down the hallway, calling, “Tricy, fetch!”

 

They managed to lose the lumbering robots in the chase, but had to fall off of the dinosaur rather ungracefully when they wanted to dismount. Rory managed to cushion his daughter's fall somewhat for the sake of the baby and everyone seemed to be alright for the moment.

 

“Good. That worked. Okay. Er, where are we now?” the Doctor wondered as he dashed to the nearest computer interface. He immediately managed to set up a connection with the others to converse on the current situation.

 

“Hello, love. Managed to escape the villain of the day?” Rose greeted him with a smile.

 

“Of course. We rode on a dinosaur!” he beamed.

 

“Dad!” Jamie gasped over his mother's shoulder.

 

“Yes, yes. Your wife and baby are just fine, Jamie. Promise. Now, current situation for you lot?” the Doctor asked, dismissing his son's concerns for the moment. He knew that he should be more considerate of River's pregnancy, but a little bumping around would be of no consequence if they were all blown from the sky by missiles.

 

“We were contacted by Indira, from Earth. I did my best, Doctor, but the ship is too close and they've started the missile program. We've only got about half an hour,” Rose informed him.

 

“I'm sure you tried, my love. There's only so much we can do and don't we always work better with a time limit?” the Doctor replied, sending his understanding through their link. “We'll work on meeting back up with you. Stay together, stay safe.”

 

#######################

 

“Now, these are what we need. Dinosaur protection,” Riddell announced as he pulled several rifles out of a cabinet nearby.  


“No weapons,” Amy chastised, earning a smile from Rose and James.

 

Riddell rolled his eyes as he handed the box that had been next to them over to Amy. She opened it to reveal tranquilizer that when with the guns.  


“Anaesthetic? These are stun guns. You're almost clever,” Amy conceded.

  
“Enough to make a dinosaur take a nap. Even the Doctor couldn't object to that,” Riddell insisted.

 

“Just don't get too trigger happy with those, if you please. Too much tranquilizer can be harmful and not all of the dinosaurs are dangerous,” Rose interrupted.

 

“The Doctor's goddess has spoken,” Nefertiti acknowledged.   


#########################

  
The Doctor and River searched through the computer systems for any way to get the ship to stop, turn around, put up shields, or defend itself somehow. Unfortunately, they weren't being particularly successful.

  
“What ship doesn't have weapons?” Rory questioned.

  
“Ah, they're an ancient species, Rory. Still full of hope,” the Doctor responded proudly, but still disappointed with their situation.

  
“What about the control deck? You said we should go to the control deck next,” Brian suggested when he could see that they were running out of ideas.

  
“It's too late. It won't make any difference,” the Doctor growled in frustration.

  
  


“You are NOT giving up now, Doctor. We have too much to live for to just stop. Now THINK!” River shouted.

  
  


Their argument was interrupted by a bright flash of light as Solomon and his robots teleported nearby. The pirate was leaning heavily on large, metal crutches as he sneered at them.  
  
“You were telling the truth, Doctor. Earth has launched missiles. This vessel is too clumsy to outrun them, but I have my own ship.”

  
“You won't get your precious cargo on board, though. Just be you and your metal tantrum machines,” the Doctor countered. He wanted to save the dinosaurs, but he might have to be satisfied with the fact that this man wouldn't get his prize and just run everyone back into the TARDIS.

  
“We do not have tantrums!” one of the robots pouted angrily.

  
“Shut up!” he snapped at the robot before readdressing the Doctor, “You're right, Doctor. I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself. But I had the IV system scan the entire ship, and it found a couple of items even more valuable. Utterly unique. And I want them.”

  
“I don't know what you're talking about,” the Doctor responded, knowing that this was likely a catastrophic development.

  
“First, Earth Queen Nefertiti of Egypt. But even better, a legend throughout the entire universe, the Bad Wolf,” Solomon announced, evil glee shining in his eyes. “Give them to me, and I'll let the rest of you live.”

  
“No,” the Doctor replied immediately with the oncoming storm swirling ferociously in his eyes.

  
“You think I won't punish those who get in my way, whatever they're worth?” Solomon threatened and motioned for the robots to kill the nearby Triceratops they had ridden earlier.

  
  


The Doctor ran to the creature's side and stroked it gently, sending soothing telepathic waves to ease its pain as it passed away

“Bring them to me, or the robots will make their way through your corpses. Bring them now,” Solomon demanded again.

  
“No.”

  
  


There was a flash of light as the rest of his family and friends appeared. Riddell had his gun pointed straight at Solomon and for once, Rose and Nefertiti seemed to be in agreement as they glared at him.   
  
  


“What are you doing? You were safer where you were,” the Doctor argued.

  
“I demanded to be brought here,” Nefertiti informed him.

  
  


“And there is no way in hell that I am letting him harm one more creature on this ship,” Rose added.

  
“No, no, no, no, no way,” the Doctor argued.

  
“It isn't your choice, Doctor, it's ours,” Nefertiti replied, still glaring daggers at Solomon.

  
  


“ _What do you think you're doing?”_ he questioned Rose telepathically.

  
  


“ _Buying you some time. This is how we do things, love. You know that,”_ she replied.

  
  


“ _I don't know what to do. It has nothing to do with time, there isn't a solution. I need to get everyone back to the TARDIS before this whole ship goes up,”_ he pleaded with her.

  
  


“ _There's always a solution. Find it,”_ she insisted and marched over to where Solomon was standing along with Nefertiti.

  
“Listen to me. If you go with him, I can't guarantee your safety,” the Doctor said aloud, for the Egyptian Queen's benefit.

  
“You saved my people. I am in your debt,” she answered.

  
“No. No debts. You don't owe me anything,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“Then I do it on my own.”

  
“No! Take them and I shoot you,” Riddell shouted as he raised his rifle against the pirate.

  
“Put it down, Riddell. We know what we're doing. Neither of us is some damsel that needs rescuing,” Rose told him.

  
“Do it, boy,” Solomon growled.

  
  


The Doctor nodded to him and he lowered the gun.  
  
“My bounty increases. And what an extraordinary bounty you are,” Solomon boasted as he stroked Nefertiti's face. His audacity earned him a slap from her.

  
“Never touch me.”

  
“I like my possessions to have spirit. It means I can have fun breaking them,” he added as he looked into Rose's eyes appraisingly. “And I will break you in with immense pleasure. Thank you, Doctor.”

  
  


“Are you sure you can handle a wolf?” Rose questioned and her eyes flashed with golden light for a moment.

  
  


Solomon flinched, unsure of what to make of it, but confidently called, “Computer, take us back to my ship.”

  
  


In another flash of light, the women had disappeared with Solomon and the robots.

  
  


 


	11. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took me a bit to get done, we're getting to the more intense stuff soon... I've already got bits and pieces of the fiftieth anniversary episode written down.

Chapter 11: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – Part 4

  
  


The Doctor's mind whirled. There was a way. There was always a way. Rose was absolutely right and he would find it. No brakes, no weapons, no shields, what was it? There had to be something.

 

“Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress,” the computer announced loudly.

 

“Bingo,” the Doctor said as he realized the solution.

 

“Ok, dad, what's the plan?” James asked.

 

“Computer, take us to the control deck,” the Doctor demanded and in a flash, they were all teleported into a large, dark control room.

 

“So, what's the plan?” Rory asked, repeating James' earlier question.

 

“Come on. The missiles are locked onto us. We can't out run them. We have to save the dinosaurs, and get my wife and Nefertiti back from Solomon. Isn't it obvious?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“It's sort of the opposite of obvious,” Rory told him.

 

“Something to do with the target lock, I'm guessing?” Jamie suggested.

 

“Brilliant! Of course you are, chip off the old block. Seventeen minutes before the missiles hit. We need to turn this ship around,” the Doctor rambled as he looked over the ship's controls.

 

“You said it was too late. That there wasn't any time,” Rory argued.

 

“Ah, yes, but I didn't have this plan then, did I? Riddell, River? Keep an eye out for dinosaurs,” the Doctor instructed, knowing that they were the two best trained with weapons of the group.

 

“I was rather hoping you'd say that,” Riddell responded gleefully.

 

“Down boy,” River warned as she snatched one of the stun guns from his hand.

 

“No killing any! Rory, Brian, get rid of the cobwebs. Jamie, help me with this, please,” the Doctor ordered, opening one of the computer panels to access the inner workings.

 

#################

 

“Come on, come on, we're not moving. He's magnetised us. We can't move away,” Solomon cursed as he tried to get his little ship moving with his new acquisitions on board.

 

Rose only smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, nodding at Nefertiti in assurance that they'd be out of there shortly.

 

################

 

Riddell was obviously buzzing with excitement at the prospect of hunting dinosaurs. He aimed the stun rifle at a lone velociraptor. “Come on, boy. I'll get you.”

 

The animal called to the rest of its pack as they circled Riddell and River where they blocked the entrance to the control deck.

 

“Hell's teeth, that's really not fair,” he grumbled.

 

“Oh, come now, they're just some little lizards,” River sighed and promptly brought down three of them. Riddell eyed her lustfully, to which she sighed, “Married and not even close to interested.”

 

################

 

**“** No, don't be like that. Really unhelpful,” the Doctor grumbled to the computer as he tried to get the controls to do what he wanted.

 

“What's the matter?” Amy questioned.

 

“Parallel pilot compartments, both configured. Needs two operators of the same gene-chain. That's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and it makes things more complicated,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Why is it such a problem, dad?  You and I could do it easily.  Or River and either of her parents,” Jamie reasoned.

 

“Should, could, sort of.  You see, I’ve regenerated since you were conceived, and River has regenerated a couple of times already as well.  It might still recognize us as family, but it might not, given how complex our genomes are.  Also, I need to work on rescuing your mother, and River is currently protecting all of us from nasty, bitey dinosaurs,” the Doctor rambled as he pointed out the issues at hand.

 

Brian took that opportunity to raise his hand and make a suggestion.

 

“What?” the Doctor questioned distractedly, as he fiddled with a few more wires.

 

“We can. Me and Rory. We must be the same gene-thingy you said,” Brian told him.

 

“Brian Pond, you are delicious!” the Doctor shouted happily.

 

“Dad, his last name is Williams, not Pond,” James corrected.

 

“Right, I'm not a Pond.”

 

“Course you are. Sit down, both of you, licketty split. The ship does all the engineering. The controls are straightforward . Even a monkey could use them. Oh look, they're going to,” he teased, earning an eye roll from everyone in the room. “Guys, come on. Comedy gold. Where's a Silurian audience when you need one. Anyway, two eye line screens. Velocity and trajectories. Steer away from the Earth. Try not to bump into the moon otherwise the races who live there will be livid. Primary controls in the arms of the chairs. Principle's the same as any vehicle. Eight minutes forty five seconds.”

 

The Doctor activated his sonic to bring the pilot chairs online and the controls lit up immediately.  “Get us as far away as you can. Right, phase two sorted. Now for phase one,” the Doctor instructed and went back into the computer access panel.

 

“Oh no, phase two comes after phase one,” Amy corrected.

 

“Humans, you are so linear. Shine the torch in here,” he scoffed at Amy.

 

“Don’t mind him, Amy.  Mum says that he likes to insult other species when he’s stressed.  Probably just worried about them being with Solomon,” James assured her.

 

The Doctor dug through the inner workings of the ship to find the piece he needed.  He knew that Rose would be fine, even if Solomon tried to hurt her, and the TARDIS would track her Wolf anywhere in the universe if necessary.  But he would never let it come to that.  He already knew what torture was when he had lost her to the parallel universe.

 

“That’s your plan? And I suppose you’ll just talk the big, dangerous robots to death?” James asked incredulously when he realized what his father was up to.

 

“Always worked before,” he responded as he pulled a small device from the control panel and it began beeping.

 

“Doctor, what are you going to do?” Amy asked, just as he was teleported away.

 

James rolled his eyes and decided to check on how his wife was faring with the dinosaurs.  Brian and Rory were shouting excitedly as they successfully piloted the ship away from the Earth, despite the fact that the missiles were still locked onto them.

 

##################

 

The Doctor materialized inside the smaller spacecraft, hoping to rescue Rose and Nefertiti from the space pirate and his robots.  What he was met with, was the sight of two shut down robots, and a rather unhappy looking Solomon, who was tied up on the floor.

 

“Was wondering when you’d turn up, love,” Rose said with a sigh.

 

“Well, umm, this was meant to be a rescue,” the Doctor stuttered.  “Guess it’s just a pick up then.”

 

“Certainly saves me the trouble of having to figure out his teleport system,” Rose replied.

 

“Should have known you didn’t need me to save you anymore,” he sighed and began plugging his little beeping device into Solomon’s controls.

 

“What are you doing?” the space pirate demanded from his spot on the floor.

 

“Disabling this ship's signal and replacing it with the one from the Silurian ship. I send this craft off emitting the signal they're looking for, the missiles will follow. Hopefully, Silurian ship safe, dinosaurs safe, everybody safe. Bit tight for time, though. Shouldn't really be chatting. Rose, Neffy, let's go. How remiss of me. Almost forgot. The thing about missiles, very literal. This is what they latch on to,” the Doctor explained as he clicked the device into place. “Now, one press of this and the ship's demagnetised.”

 

“Doctor, whatever you want, I can get it for you. Whatever object you desire,” Solomon pleaded.

 

“I have all I desire.  Did the Silurians beg you to stop? Look, Solomon. The missiles. See them shine? See how valuable they are. And they're all yours.”

 

“You wouldn't leave me, Doctor.”

 

“You tried to steal my wife. Enjoy your bounty,” he replied as he wrapped an arm around Rose’s waist.  Rose took Nefertiti’s hand and just as the Doctor pressed the button to release the ship from the magnetic locks, the trio teleported back onto the control deck.

 

It was simple from there to park the large ship full of dinosaurs long enough to drop everyone off where they needed to be.  Once Riddell and Nefertiti were back in their own time periods, they took the others back to Amy and Rory’s place.  

 

“So, dinosaur drop off time,” the Doctor announced.

 

“We’re going to take some family time with them for a bit.  I really don't want River involved in that kind of thing right now, and Brian needs to know the whole story,” James told him.

 

“We understand, sweetheart,” Rose assured him as she hugged everyone. “Just make sure and call us when that baby makes an entrance.”

 

“Of course we will, Rose,” River replied.

 

There were a few adventures for the Doctor and Rose while they waited for news about their grandchild.  They even brought Amy and Rory along when the humans got a bit bored with linear life.  It was during a trip to show the couple the sights in New York when things got particularly interesting.


	12. Angels Take Manhattan: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one, but it will go very quickly now. I've got a good plan for it and I'm already a good portion into writing the next part of it. Thanks for sticking with me!!

Rose, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory were enjoying a picnic in Central Park.  They had decided to take a little holiday and explore the sights.  The Doctor hadn't been to the original New York since travelling with Martha, and that had been during the Depression.  He was feeding Rose little bites of fruit from their picnic as she read to him from the trashy novel she had found at a little bookstore nearby.

 

“New York growled at my window, but I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat ready, and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet,” Rose read aloud, trying not to laugh at the cheesy writing.  It did fit with the style of the book, so she couldn't really fault the author for that.

 

“Must you two do that?  Couldn't you use your little mind talking thing?” Amy grumbled, trying to read her own novel next to them.

 

“Oh, come on, Amy! This is fun and silly! You'll love it, I swear.  It's one of those sort of film noir detective stories,” Rose told her.

 

“There's something different about you, isn't there?” the Doctor asked Amy distractedly.

 

“What's the book?” Rory interrupted, feeling that his wife was a bit uncomfortable with the sudden scrutiny.

 

“Melody Malone. She's a private detective in old town New York,” Rose replied, waggling her eyebrows.

 

“She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips, and a vulnerable side she keeps well hidden,” Amy added dramatically.

 

“Have you read this already?” Rose wondered.

 

“You read it. Aloud. Honestly, sometimes you two do the strangest things,” she responded, shaking her head.

 

“It's your hair! Is it your hair?” the Doctor guessed as he continued to look curiously at Amy to figure out what was different.

 

“Oh, shut up. It's the glasses. I'm wearing reading glasses now, on my nose, see? There you go,” Amy corrected him abruptly.

 

“No, that's not it.  There's something else, something I'm missing,” he insisted, missing the knowing glance between Amy and Rose.

 

“Okay, I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too. I'll go!” Rory announced uncomfortably, making the Doctor even more sure that they were hiding something.

 

Amy rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt to escape the situation. “I'll have a tea, thanks,” she called to him and he waved back in acknowledgement. “Alright, Rose, keep reading.”

 

“Knew you'd like it,” she teased with a wink.

 

“Shut up, and read me a story,” Amy replied petulantly.

 

The Doctor hummed, clearly still contemplating what the change was in Amy, when he reached for the book in Rose’s hand and tore out the last page.  Rose rolled her eyes and took the paper from him to tuck in her pocket before he could toss it away.

 

“Why did you do that?” Amy questioned.

 

“I always rip out the last page of a book. Then it doesn't have to end,” he explained.

 

“He hates endings. One day though, I found Jamie in the library, tearing pages out of the books and his excuse was that daddy always did that,” Rose complained, turning back to where she had left off in the book they were currently reading.  “As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began.”

 

Rose licked her finger and turned the page. “I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes,” Rose continued reading, then paused, worry clear on her face.

 

“Rose? What did the skinny guy say?” Amy prompted and the Doctor looked over his wife’s shoulder to see what had her so concerned.

 

Rose seemed frozen in shock, so the Doctor replied, “He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor, Rose, and Amy. Hello, River.'”

 

#########################

 

“Hello, Dad,” River responded with a smile.  She was wearing a revealing dress, appropriate for the 1930s, and killer heels, her makeup impeccable.

 

“Where am I? How the hell did I get here?” Rory wondered.

 

“I haven't the faintest idea, but you'll probably want to put your hands up,” River informed him with a nod toward the man pointing a gun at them.

 

Rory immediately joined his daughter in surrendering to the thugs that surrounded them. He stood protectively between River and the gun, despite having no idea what this was all about.

 

“Melody Malone?” one of them asked.

 

At her nod, Rory gasped, “You're Melody?”

 

They were urged into the back of a limousine that pulled up next to them.

 

#########################

 

“Ok, Doctor, what's the deal with this? I'm sure that having our every move dictated by a book is not a good thing, yeah?” Rose questioned as they made their way back to the TARDIS.

 

“What's River doing in a book? What's Rory doing in a book?” Amy asked them worriedly.

 

“He went to get coffee. Pay attention. And no, love, it is very, very not good,” the Doctor snapped, rushing to the console.

 

“He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?” Amy demanded, clearly panicking now.

 

“I don't know. We're in New York!” he snapped at her.

 

“Everyone calm down.  Doctor, what do I do about the book? Keep reading? Put it away?” Rose prompted, trying to keep calm enough to think clearly.

 

“How did you choose that book specifically?” he asked her.

 

“Someone in the shop recommended it.  I don't know who he was, just some random guy,” Rose replied quickly.

 

“Ok, figure that out later. Date, date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?” he asked.

 

“Right, hang on. Oh, April 3rd, 1938,” Rose answered, scanning the pages quickly for information.

 

######################

 

“You didn't come here in the Doctor’s TARDIS, obviously,” River commented.

 

“Why?” Rory wondered.

 

“He couldn't have. The Doctor isn't a good enough pilot for that. This city's full of time distortions. It'd be impossible for him to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard. Even I couldn't do it,” River explained.

 

#############################

 

“Even who couldn't do it?!” the Doctor shouted indignantly as he input the date coordinates.

 

“Relax, you know she's always winding you up,” Rose chastised.

 

“1938. Easy one,” he insisted, just as the console began sparking violently.

 

“What was that?” Amy asked him.

 

“1938. We just bounced off it,” he admitted.

 

###########################

 

“So how did you get here?” Rory questioned.

 

“Vortex manipulator. Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic. You?” River explained, proudly displaying her current method of travel.  Soon she was sure she would be joining her husband on their TARDIS and leaving this lifestyle behind. The last time she had seen her husband, he was only a child.  It had been a first meeting for him and nearly broke her heart.

 

“I'm not sure,” Rory admitted.

 

##############################

 

The Doctor landed the TARDIS so that he could put out the fires that had started in the console room. Rose was carefully scanning the pages of the book for details that would help them, without learning too much about her own future.

 

“It's probably the Weeping Angels,” the Doctor muttered as he blasted flames with a fire extinguisher.

 

“The Weeping Angels?” Amy asked.

 

“You're probably right,” Rose agreed.

 

“Why? What do Angels have to do with it?” Amy questioned.  The last time she had encountered them, many people had died.

 

“That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. They zap you back in time, let you live to death,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Well, we've got a time machine. We can just go and get him,” Amy reasoned.

 

“Well, tried that, if you've noticed, and we are back where we started in 2012,” he responded petulantly.

 

“This isn't where we started though.  This looks like the suburbs.  We were in Central Park,” Amy argued.

 

“Yes, well it’s nearby. Probably causally linked somehow. Doesn't matter. Extractor fans on!” he shouted into the ship, trying to clear the smoke from the console room.

 

“Apparently, Jamie has better luck getting there than we did.  Maybe we could lock onto his TARDIS?” Rose told him as she scanned further into the book.

 

“What?” the Doctor asked, paying close attention to a possible solution.

 

“Jamie lands there to rescue them. ‘I only came here because mum and dad called and told me to.  Gave me coordinates from a book to drop you off first, then got here as quickly as I could,’” Rose read to him from the paperback.

 

“Right! Time to call Jamie and find those coordinates, my love,” the Doctor responded brightly as he rushed back inside toward a solution. “Don't read anything about when we get there!”

 

“Yes, I know.  I did mention I realized how bad it would be to have our actions dictated by a book, yeah?” Rose told him, rolling her eyes.

 

“But we've already been reading it,” Amy argued.

 

“Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us. That's as far as we go,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“But it could help us find Rory!” she shouted.

 

“And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Amy, remember when we had that circular paradox stuff going on and Jamie said it was best if we all knew as little about details as possible? It gave us room to live the events properly, once something is established, you can't change it.  Paradoxes are extremely dangerous.  I caused one once and just about destroyed the whole planet,” Rose told her, taking her hand supportively.  “Jamie is already going to get there to help them.  We know that,” she added, holding up the novel.

Amy nodded, though her eyes were a bit damp.  The Doctor was on the phone attached to the console, “Jamie! We have a bit of a situation.  You're in a book, which means that you are in a sort of timey wimey way, being summoned to a particular point.  I have coordinates for where to drop off your River first, so that she isn't bumping into her past self on this little adventure.  Don't let her tell you anything about where you're going and all that.  We will lock our TARDIS onto yours once you've landed.”

 

“Alright, why am I not locking onto yours to follow you there if you've got all the information?” James wondered.

 

“Well, it is apparently a rather bumpy ride and… And… You could lock your TARDIS onto her Vortex Manipulator! You built it, after all, should be an easy thing to trace,” the Doctor suggested.

 

“Fine,” he sighed. “You know River is laughing at you right now.  Probably because she knows exactly why you're following me, rather than the other way around.”

 

“I just told you! You can lock into her more easily than I can! Now, I'm sending you the coordinates to drop off your River, and we’ll meet you there momentarily.”

 

##########################

 

“So, it would seem that I'm dropping you off somewhere before I go and see you in your past,” James told his wife as he entered the coordinates his father had sent.

 

“Yes, and you know I can't tell you anything about it,” she answered with a knowing grin.

 

“Do you at least know where it is that I'm dropping you off? I don't recognize the address,” he wondered.

 

“No idea, but I'm sure it'll be just fine,” she assured him as they landed.  “See you soon!” River did her best to stroll casually out of their TARDIS, but being nine months pregnant, it was really more of a waddle.

 

James watched her go to the front door of the house before turning away from the exterior camera and focussing on locking onto his wife's past Vortex Manipulator.  His father indicated that it would be somewhere in New York 1938, so he focussed his search there.

 

###############################

 

“You have a very interesting collection, from what I've heard,” River commented as she took in their captor’s collection of antiques.

 

“And you have a rather interesting hobby, from what I’ve heard,” the man replied.

 

“And you're very afraid. That's an awful lot of locks for one door,” she added.  There were a dozen or so bolts and chains on the reinforced front door.

 

“Do we have a plan yet, River?” Rory asked her quietly.

 

“This one. Put him somewhere uncomfortable,” the man ordered regarding Rory.

 

“Working on it,” she assured her father before he was taken away.

 

“With the babies, sir?” the goon suggested.

 

“Yes, why not? Give him to the babies,” their host agreed.

 

River decided to take some control over the situation and walked confidently into the next room to explore. “Let's see, crime boss with a collecting fetish. Whatever you don't let anyone else see has got to be your favourite. Or possibly your girlfriend,” she deduced and pulled back a long red curtain to reveal a snarling angel statue, locked in chains. “So, girlfriend, then.”

 

The man looked at her curiously when she typed a few commands into her Vortex Manipulator.

 

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

 

“Oh, you know, texting a boy,” she answered as she finished calling for her husband.

 

**“** These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice. It never moves while you're looking,” he told her, confused by her actions, but anxious to get back to the reason he had her brought here.

 

“Oh, I know how they work,” she replied.  She had spent years studying them before and after the events with the Byzantium.

 

“So I understand. Melody Malone, the detective who investigates Angels,” he commented.  He seemed quite proud to have captured her.

 

“Badly damaged,” she assessed, her skills as an archeologist coming to the fore.

 

“I wanted to know if it could feel pain,” he informed her. He was still on the other side of the room, so River wasn't worried about him, not that she couldn't take care of herself.

 

“You realise it's screaming? The others can hear. Is that why you need all the locks?” she asked pointedly.

 

The man smirked at her, then turned off the lights for a couple of seconds.  When they were back on, it was revealed that the angel had a hold on River’s wrist.

 

“You're going to tell me all about these creatures. And you're going to do it quickly,” he insisted as he approached where River was now trapped.

 

“The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?” River asked curiously.

 

“I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human,” he responded.

 

“That's exactly what they're thinking,” she told him.  That was when the lights flickered slightly and the sound of the universe breathing began to fill the house.  It was a difficult materialization and the building shook with the effort.

 

“What's that? What's happening? Is it an earthquake?” the man questioned frantically.  He had already been on edge over the statues coming for him.  “What is it?”

 

“Mr. Grayle, just you wait till my husband gets home,” she told him confidently as what appeared to be Michelangelo’s David appeared in the foyer.

 

At the sight of it, Grayle fell unconscious on the floor.  James emerged from the side of the statue and smirked as he greeted her, “Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell.”


	13. Angels Take Manhattan: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you it would be fast! As usual, I have to fix all of Moffatt's inconsistencies. Did my best with that, next we have the Snowmen!!

Chapter 13 – Angels Take Manhattan: Part 2

 

“Shock. He'll be fine,” James decided after checking over the unconscious man on the floor.

 

“Not if I can get loose,” River growled.

 

“River! Are you alright? Did he hurt you?” he asked worriedly as he rushed to her side.  He stopped, frozen in place when he noticed what was holding her.

 

“I’m fine, James.  What has you so worried about me all of a sudden?” she questioned.  They had always taken care of each other, but she had never known him to be so jumpy about her safety.

 

“Sorry, love.  Umm, spoilers. I only came here because mum and dad called and told me to.  Gave me coordinates from a book to drop you off first, then got here as quickly as I could,” he explained.

 

The moment that the words were out of his mouth, the sound of a sonic screwdriver came from the front door and all of the locks came undone.  It burst open and Amy ran through the house in search of her husband.

 

“Rory? Rory!” Amy called and headed toward the cellar door when she heard his muffled voice calling back.

 

“Love the form your little TARDIS chose today, Jamie. So where are we now, Doctor Song? How's prison?” the Doctor asked as he strolled into the room where James was trying to figure out how to get his wife free.

 

“Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Professor Song to you,” she replied.

 

“Pardoned?” he wondered.

 

“Mmm. Turns out the people I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of them. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting them from every database in the universe,” River explained.

 

“Well, what was it they called that thing? The Bad Wolf virus? Took out everything on Earth.  Maybe I sent it further than that?” Rose guessed.

 

“Safer for family that way,” the Doctor decided.

 

“And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be somebody?” River teased.

 

“Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor and the Bad Wolf?” he countered.

 

“Enough, you two,” Rose interrupted.

 

“She's holding you very tight,” James complained.

 

“At least she didn't send me back in time,” River told him.

 

“I doubt she's strong enough,” the Doctor interjected as he took in the angel’s condition.

 

“Well, I need a hand back, so which is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist or hers?” River asked.

 

“You know that I would shatter every angel in the universe for you, my love,” James told her and started flicking through the settings on his sonic.  

 

“Are you going to resonate concrete now too?” Rose teased, making the Doctor laugh next to her.

 

“Hardly concrete, mother.  And I’m just going to weaken it a bit while I break it with my hands.  Now, what’s all this about a book?” James asked while he worked on freeing his wife.

 

“What book?” River added.

 

“Your book. Well, from what I can gather, you and Amy will write it. But you haven't written it yet, so we can't read anymore of it,” Rose explained.  She looked at the publishing information and hadn’t noticed before that it was written by Amy Williams and River Tyler.  It seemed like they had purposely kept that information difficult to find.  The cover hadn’t featured the authors’ names at all.

 

Amy and Rory joined them in the sitting room.  Rory looked a bit shaken from whatever had happened.

 

“Is it a new perfume?” the Doctor asked Amy, sniffing her curiously.  Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head.

 

“What’s the matter, Rory?” Rose asked, moving to his side.

 

“I was locked in the cellar with a bunch of little cherub statue things.  The guy had tossed me a box of matches and laughed before locking the door, but I had a flashlight in my pocket with my first aid kit.  As long as I kept looking at the things, they didn’t move.  Those things are creepy,” he explained.

 

“Yeah.  Not too fond of them myself, and we’ve got a big one up here,” Rose told him.

 

“Oh my god!  River, are you alright?” Rory asked, worried about his daughter.

 

“She’ll be just fine in a moment,” James assured him and snapped the thumb off of the angel so that River’s hand was free.

 

They both stepped back from the creature and River used both hands to grasp James’ face, kissing him roughly.

 

“Ok, lovebirds, we need to figure out what to do next, yeah?  There’s got to be more to it than that.  What’s with all the time turbulence stuff we had to deal with?” Rose asked.

 

“Well, if River and I are going to write that book, we'd make it useful, yeah?” Amy suggested.

 

“We can certainly try. But we can't read ahead, it's too dangerous,” River agreed.

 

“I know, but there must be something we can look at,” Amy insisted.

 

“What, a page of handy hints? Previews? Spoiler free?” the Doctor asked mockingly.

 

“Chapter titles,” Amy replied.

 

“You're brilliant, Amy!” Rose shouted and flipped over to look at the chapter titles.

 

“Ok, we're looking for someplace called Winter Quay,” Rose told them.  She didn't want to reveal to the others anything she had seen about what would happen, just pass along the information that they needed.

 

“Searching for it,” River told them as she used the computer in her Vortex Manipulator to find the address. “It's not that far from here by the look of it. And it does seem to be the centre of the temporal disturbances.”

 

“There's a car out front. Shall we steal it?” James suggested after looking out the front doors into the night.

 

“She's a bad influence on you,” Rose commented.

 

“Nah, I learned it from dad,” he countered with a smile.

 

They arrived at the apartment building fairly quickly, despite the Doctor repeatedly forgetting that cars drove on the opposite side of the road in America.  Rose noticed a few people watching them from the surrounding windows.

 

“People around here are scared. They know something is wrong, but don't know how to stop it,” she told the others.

 

“So, what is it that's wrong?” Amy asked.

 

“Let's find out,” the Doctor announced and took his wife’s hand as they marched up to the front doors.

 

The place seemed deserted.  There was no one around, none of the typical noises one would expect in an apartment building.  They roamed the halls, expecting to at least hear a radio or people talking, but there was nothing.

 

“I don't like it. We shouldn't be here,” James announced suddenly.

 

River looked at him in shock.  She had never known her husband to run away from fixing something like this.

 

“I think you've been playing it safe a little too long lately, sweetheart,” Rose teased him.  She knew exactly what had him so jumpy over River’s safety recently, and this being in her past made it all the more dangerous, but this was their life.  He would get back into the swing soon.

 

“Why would you do that?” River questioned.

 

“Mum! You know she can't know about that yet!” James whispered harshly to his mother.  Looking back to his wife, he smiled weakly and said, “Spoilers?”

 

“Hopefully that situation doesn't last too long,” River commented.  She loved the excitement of his life and hoped that when she could finally travel with him all the time, they would keep doing the types of things his parents did.

 

“Come along, all of you.  I think we're expected,” the Doctor interrupted when one of the doors swung open.

 

Inside the room, an elderly man sat in a chair by the window.  It was boarded up, but there nonetheless.  He looked up at them as they entered and sighed, almost in relief.  “It's time then,” he told them.

 

“Time for what?” Rose asked.

 

“Thirty years ago, I was brought here by the Angels.  They roam the halls in case anyone tries to leave.  When I walked through that door, I saw all of you and myself.  I watched as this me died.  Then I was thrown back thirty years to live here.  They give us what we need, but we can't leave.  They can't risk us not being here for the moment that it started,” the man explained.

 

“The paradox would not only rip a hole in reality, it would destroy their little prison.  Once they've established the fact that you will be here to witness your own death, it must happen. And they've been doing this for decades,” the Doctor explained.

 

“I wish we could save you from this,” Rose told him sadly.  

 

“I am being saved.  It's almost over,” he said with a smile and a young man stumbled through the doorway.

 

“Who? What?”  he gasped as he looked at everyone in the room.  His eyes locked on the much older version of himself.  The elderly man slumped in the chair, his eyes closing as he took his last breath.

 

Rory ran to his side and checked the man’s pulse.  He shook his head sadly and looked up at the younger man who had just witnessed it all. 

 

“I don't…” he began, but suddenly vanished, revealing the angel standing directly behind him.

 

“Alright, everyone keep your eyes on the angel,” Rose ordered the group.

 

“This place is policed by Angels. Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time,” the Doctor reminded them all.

 

“So this place belongs to the Angels? They built it?” Amy guessed.

 

“Displacing someone back in time creates time energy, and that is what the Angels feed on. But normally, it's a one off, a hit and run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off their time energy over and over again. This place is a farm. A battery farm. How many Angels in New York?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“I've been studying them, it's like they've taken over every statue in the city,” River told him.

 

“The Angels take Manhattan because they can, because they've never had a food source like this one. The city that never sleeps,” the Doctor decided.

 

“Wouldn't that be worse for them, though? With there always being people up and about, wouldn't there always be someone watching them?” Rose questioned.

 

“Ok, I vote for leaving this room,” Rory interrupted nervously as he continued to stare at the frozen angel in front of them.

 

“Seconded,” James agreed as he pulled River with him, past the statue and into the hallway.

 

“There's another out here,” River warned as the others joined them.

 

“Jamie and River, watch the new one. Amy and Rory, watch the one in the flat. Doctor, we need a plan.  How do we fix this?” Rose announced, taking control of the situation to keep everyone calm.

 

“We can't just take people out of here. They've tried to make it so that anyone leaving would create a paradox and bring down Reapers on us all.  Therefore, we speak to no one else.  We can't learn anyone else's story.  That way, we can end this tonight,” the 

Doctor explained.

 

“But how do we end it?” Amy asked him again.

 

“Without destroying every statue in New York, you mean?” James added.

 

“Two more are coming up the stairs!” Rose warned everyone. “We can't watch all sides here.  Time to move.”

 

Rose led them all to the roof.  She didn't like the corner they were being backed into, but 

there had been more Angels below them in the stairwell and no other way to go.  At least from here, they could keep them all in sight.

 

“Do we have a plan yet? We're running out of options,” River commented as they reached the edge of the rooftop.

 

“You have a future, love.  I've seen it.  I'm living it and I won't let anything happen to you.  Give me that Vortex Manipulator, so I can adjust it to carry all of us out of here,” James insisted.  He began to sonic the circuitry so that it would carry more than two people, to at least get them off of the roof.

 

“Right, ok, a paradox would stop them, but it would also stop all life on Earth as the Reapers came to cleanse the wound.  We could blow up the building, but if there is anyone left inside, they would be killed as well, if the Angels themselves were even hurt by it,” the Doctor rambled as he considered their options.

 

“At least they wouldn't be able to use this building anymore, but we would have to be sure to evacuate anyone still here,” Rose agreed.

 

“Lucky the Statue of Liberty isn't an angel,” Amy joked, trying to ease some of the tension.

 

“It isn't made of stone.  Even if it were, you don't think there isn't always someone looking at it?  Especially if it moved,” River explained.

 

“Yeah, well, I was just joking.  This is plenty scary already,” Amy replied, rolling her eyes.

 

River screamed as she began to lose her balance.  They had kept all of the large Angels in sight, but a little gargoyle had climbed up over the side of the building and had a hold on her jacket.

 

“No! It can't! The baby!” James shouted.

 

River gasped and her eyes went wide as she looked at him.  

 

“This cannot be permitted,” Rose announced suddenly, her voice commanding and otherworldly.  “My pack must be protected.”

 

The golden glow of the Bad Wolf encapsulated the area, as the statues around them turned to dust.  The building itself then disappeared as well, leaving the time travellers, as well as a few confused people from the apartment building, standing in an empty lot. As the golden light left Rose’s eyes, she started to collapse and the Doctor dove to catch her before she could hit the ground.

 

James moved to embrace his wife as well, realizing just how close they had come to losing their future together.  He refastened the Vortex Manipulator on her wrist, cursing himself for ever taking her escape from her to begin with.

 

“Really?” River asked him, tears in her eyes.

 

James closed his eyes and nodded.  He hadn't meant to let that slip, but he had been terrified of not only causing a paradox and losing his wife, but their future child as well.  He had always found it comforting to know that her future was fine because he knew her on the other side, but his impending fatherhood had made him feel far less secure about their looping timelines.  He hadn't actually crossed her past in quite a while, so he was a bit out of practice.

 

“Rose! Darling, can you hear me?” the Doctor called frantically as he checked her over.

 

She mumbled, “Just a few more minutes, Doctor.”

 

He squeezed her tightly in relief, making her grumble a bit before opening her eyes.  Rose sat up suddenly to look around and make sure everyone was safe.

 

“You incredible woman! That always scares me to death,” her husband sighed into her hair as he held her close.

 

“Thank you, Rose,” River called to her.

 

“Not sure what I did, but as long as everyone is safe, I'm happy,” she called back.

 

“Is it over now? Can we go home?” Amy questioned, avoiding eye contact with the confused apartment residents.  They seemed to be scattering, now that the Angels were nowhere in sight.

 

“Sort of.  You and your daughter have a book to write, and the publisher is in New York,” the Doctor informed her.

 

“So we have to stay here? Can't we write it at home and just mail it or something?” Amy asked.

 

“Well, the publishing date isn't back here.  We can go closer to your proper timeline.  Back enough so that it's there when I bought it, though.  And that means that it would be safer if you weren't in London, where you might meet yourselves.  Bit of a working vacation?” Rose told her.

 

“Don't we need to worry about money? Not exactly a vacation,” Rory complained.

 

“Do we ever worry about money, Rory?” Rose said, rolling her eyes.  “Come on, we’ll get you what you need set up before we drop you off.”

 

James’ mobile started ringing.

 

“Hello, love. What's up?” he answered.

 

Whatever he heard from his wife over the phone made him go pale, suddenly. “What? Yes! Yes, I'm on my way! Oh my god, of all the times,” he rambled nervously before turning the phone off and looking to his parents. “Could you please take care of all the loose ends on this one? It seems that I'm needed elsewhere.”

 

“Sure thing, sweetheart.  You be sure and visit us as soon as you three are up to it,” Rose told him as she hugged her son goodbye.

 

“Yes! Yes, oh my god,” he gasped and roughly kissed River before running back toward his TARDIS.

 

River chuckled as she watched him go.  “He could have let us drive him back there.”

 

“Nah, he probably needs to run off a bit of nervous energy anyway.  It won't make him arrive any later,” the Doctor commented.  “Let's get all of you set up to close this little time loop then.”

 

Back in the TARDIS, Rose pulled the paper from her pocket that the Doctor had torn from the book.  On it was an address. Rose set up Amy and Rory with a nice little house in the suburbs, quite close to where they had accidentally landed after bouncing off of their target year earlier.

 

“Seems a bit big for just the two of them, doesn't it? Their house in London isn't that big,” the Doctor argued.

 

“Well, River will be visiting for a while to help with that book.  And then, there's the baby to consider,” Rose told him.

 

Amy elbowed her in the side, making her wince.

 

“Why would the baby be staying with them? She'll have a lovely room on her parents’ TARDIS,” he protested.

 

“Not River’s baby, you numpty. My baby,” Amy told him finally.

 

“Oh! That's what it is!  I knew there was something.  Hormonal changes because you're pregnant!” he exclaimed happily.

 

“Was wondering when you'd figure it out,” Rose laughed. “Our family just keeps on growing.”

 

He laughed and kissed her hair before piloting Amy, Rory, and River to their new house.

 

#########

 

James landed back outside the house where he had dropped off his wife when this adventure began.  Knocking on the door, he was a bit surprised to see Amy answer it.  A rather pregnant Amy.

 

“What?!” he gasped.

 

“Come on in, she's upstairs,” she informed him.  “We can explain it all later.  For now, your wife needs you.”

 

James stumbled up the small staircase to find River.  She was in active labour, and Martha Jones was there to monitor her and the baby.  

 

“What are you doing here?” he questioned.

 

“Couldn't have just anyone at the birth of your alien baby, could we?” Martha teased. “The others will come by later. Didn't want to overwhelm River while she's busy.”

 

“Yes. Of course,” James agreed and dove to take his wife's hand as another contraction started. “Have you decided on a name yet, love?”

 

“Yes,” River sighed, once the contraction subsided. “Clara.  Clara Rose Tyler.”

  
  


 


	14. Family Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A brief interlude before the Snowmen... hope you like it.

Jamie and River were enjoying their babymoon with little Clara.  Taking it easy on their TARDIS and making safe trips to peaceful places for a while.  Amy and Rory were happy in New York for the time being.  Even with the circular paradox of the novel being completed, Amy was more than happy to stay in their little house there at least until their own baby arrived.  They had missed out on that part with River and planned to take full advantage this time around.  Their desire for children had almost broken their marriage a little while ago.  It was only thanks to some intervention on the Doctor and Rose’s parts that had repaired the damage caused by Kovarian and her goons.

 

All of this baby stuff had the Doctor and Rose thinking as they snuggled together in the library.  The Doctor had missed being with Rose for her pregnancy and birth, something he wanted to experience with her since he was wearing leather, if he was honest.

 

“You want another baby,” Rose stated matter-of-factly.

 

“Yes.  Don't you?” he wondered.  Her tone implied that she might not be interested in more children.

 

“Well, I suppose.  It's been so long for me since having Jamie, and it feels like we have forever now.  I guess though, it would be nice to spend that forever with them rather than just waiting for them,” Rose pondered while fidgeting with her husband's fingers.

 

“Everyone is sort of taking a baby break right now.  I missed that special time with you.  I got to see Jamie while he was still little, but I never got to watch you when you were carrying him.  Lie beside you and stroke your belly, feel his telepathy just starting, the little flutter of kicks from inside you,” he told her, his voice soft and filled with regret.  It had been centuries for them since their separation, but it was still the most painful time they had ever been through as a couple.

 

“We could try, yeah? Doesn't mean it'll happen right away,” Rose suggested.

 

“So, you want me to give you the counter agent to your birth control, then?” he asked hopefully.

 

“I suppose,” she replied.

 

“This one, right here?” he added as he pulled a small, sealed syringe from his transdimensional pocket.

 

Rose grinned at him.  “How long have you been carrying that around?” 

 

“Oh, I don't know.  Ever since I gave you the birth control shot to begin with?” he admitted.

 

“You daft old man. Why didn't you ever say that you didn't want to wait? We could have done this centuries ago,” she asked.

 

“I didn't want to rush you if you didn't want to.  You've given me so much already, my love,” he sighed and stroked the side of her face.  She kissed him softly and they both smiled, their faces so close that their noses rubbed together. “May I?”

 

“Oh, alright,” she sighed and offered her arm as he unwrapped the little package. “How long will it take for all that to be out of my system and stuff?”

 

“Why? You hoping to conceive a new one this instant?” he asked teasingly.

 

“Well, we do have this big, old time ship all to ourselves. And if we happen to end up with another little one running around here, he or she will need us with them all the time.  You remember how hard it was to get some alone time when Jamie was little,” she said as she slid his jacket off of his shoulders and started undoing his bow tie.

 

“It will take a little while for your body to reestablish its natural rhythms again, but there's no harm in a little practice,” he responded, tugging at her clothes as well.

 

They tumbled playfully off of the sofa and made their way to the thick rug by the fireplace.  He was so thrilled by the idea of his wife being pregnant again, that the Doctor decided she would come apart several times before he sought his own pleasure inside her.

 

Rose was lying, deliciously naked on their favourite rug.  The Doctor quickly finished removing his trousers and pants before joining her there.  She giggled at his playful growl, but switched to moaning in pleasure when his tongue connected with her clitoris.

 

“Mmmm, trying might just be a fun adventure for us on its own,” Rose told him, rocking her hips against his mouth as he hummed in agreement.  

 

He thrust his long, cool fingers inside her and stroked gently.  Centuries of making love to his wife had given him considerable experience in making her come apart.  Reaching up her body with his free hand, he began to firmly massage her breast as she writhed beneath him.

 

Rose released little moans of pleasure as she got closer to the edge, her centre dripping from the pleasure he provided.  Switching to his thumb on her clitoris, the Doctor shifted to take her neglected breast into his mouth, swirling his tongue around her nipple roughly.  Her body clenched tightly as she came with a squeal, but he didn't stop his movements, vowing to give her at least two orgasms before plunging inside of her properly.

 

She slowed her movements as she tried to catch her breath, but wriggled against his hand again as soon as she found the strength.

 

“You're so gorgeous when you come, Rose.  All of the marvels in the universe cannot compare to the sight of you in the throes of passion,” he whispered to her as he trailed kisses along her neck.

 

“Yes, Doctor. Oh, yes,” she gasped, barely coherent, just needing more.

 

“You are a miracle. A gift that I will forever cherish, my darling.  Your light chases away all of my fears and nightmares.  With you at my side, we can do anything,” he continued.

 

Rose came again with a shout and he wasted no time in climbing over her to finally press his throbbing erection into her.  They both groaned in pleasure, the Doctor setting up a deep, slow rhythm that would allow him to last long enough to push her over once more (he hoped).

 

“Rose, Rose, my darling, precious girl. Oh, I love you, for all eternity,” he called to her as their pace increased.

 

Rose shouted his true name as she fell, the name she never remembered completely and couldn't pronounce if she tried, but instinctively seemed to be able to use if necessary.

 

“Yeah, the trying for a baby part will definitely be fun,” Rose told him with a giggle.

 

##############################

 

Family dinner had a whole new meaning to it now.  They decided that the Williams’ house in New York was the best place for getting everyone together.  The house was large and it was currently Thanksgiving in the United States.  A perfect excuse for Jackie and Pete to visit, along with their extended Torchwood family.  James and River were there with a two month old Clara, Amy was ready to have her baby anytime now and even Mickey and Martha announced that they were expecting.

 

“So, what about you two?” Jackie asked pointedly as they sat at the dinner table.

 

“Actually, we decided that we might try for another,” Rose told them proudly.

 

“Can't believe you're a grandmother at your age.  And with me only in my fifties, a great gran,” she sighed, shaking her head.

 

“I'm older than you think, mum,” Rose admitted.

 

“Not enough to be a gran! I mean look at you, don't even look like you're out of your twenties.  Jamie's probably older than you are now, what with all his jumping about,” Jackie complained.

 

“Jacks,” Pete sighed, seeing that this would only spoil their visit.

 

“I'm not aging, mum.  I won't age, ever,” Rose announced.

 

“What? What's that supposed to mean?” Jackie demanded.

 

“How old are you, Rose?” Mickey questioned.

 

Rose looked to her husband as they tried to mentally calculate the time.

 

“Umm, almost three hundred, I think,” the Doctor informed them.

 

“And just when were you gonna tell me? Your own mother and it don't matter that I don't even know my daughter has been turned into some kind of thing?!” Jackie shouted angrily.

 

“Jackie, stop it!” Pete insisted, grabbing her arm as she stood up from the table.

 

Rose stood to match her as they glared at each other. “A  _ thing,  _ am I? Just another alien to interrupt your precious existence?  I chose this for myself and my family when I opened up the TARDIS to save him and the rest of the bloody planet, and this is the thanks I get from you? I give you your husband back, a grandson, a great granddaughter, save the planet, the universe, the whole damned multiverse, but I didn't tell you that I'll have to watch you die and keep going for centuries without you.  I knew you'd never understand, that's why I never told you! I would have lost you hundreds of years ago if I'd stayed living here with you.  I always loved the fact that you were here if I needed you.  But don't you worry your precious head about it. This  _ thing  _ won't bother you anymore!” Rose shouted, tears streaming down her face, before storming out the back door to where their TARDIS was parked.

 

A painful silence fell over the room in the aftermath of the argument.  It was finally broken by the Doctor.

 

“Amy, could you spend some time telling Jackie the story about what happened to your daughter? Jackie, you can blame me all you like, I can take it.  But I will be forever grateful for the gifts that your daughter has given me.  She may now be immortal, or very nearly, but she is more human in her heart than any other human that I have ever met.  Now, if you will all excuse me, I need to see to my wife,” the Doctor told them calmly before following her to the time ship.

 

He found her beneath the console, swinging in the sling he used when fiddling with the wiring of the old girl.  Her face was blotchy from tears and she was softly caressing the ship.  “Don't know why I ever thought it would be alright to tell her. Should've known better,” she told him softly.

 

“It was a bit of a shock, just give her some time.  You and I have had a very long time to think about it and accept the changes that your connection to the TARDIS has made.  She doesn't see the wonderful side to all of it yet,” he assured her.

 

“She might never see the good in it.  Just one more thing for her to complain about. I need to run, my love,” she told him, finally meeting his eyes.

 

“You're sure? You don't want to talk to her again first?” he questioned, knowing how close she usually was with her mother.

 

“I'm sure. I need the wind in my hair and stars and planets and explosions.  I just need to run,” she replied.  She jumped out of the little swing and pulled him with her up the stairs to the controls.

 

“That is something that I understand all too well,” he said and together they piloted the ship off on an adventure.

 

#############

 

The Doctor and Rose dashed from one adventure to the next, frequently visiting with Amy and Rory, Mickey and Martha, Jamie, River, and Clara.  They even stopped in at Torchwood from time to time to see Jack, Donna, and Pete.  But at the slightest mention of Jackie, Rose would immediately walk straight back into the TARDIS.

 

Knowing that she needed some kind of intervention, Jack and the Doctor managed to corner her in Jack’s office.  She tried to leave, but the pair of them insisted that she needed to at least talk with them about it.

 

“What is there to talk about? She doesn't think I'm human anymore.  I'm just some kind of thing that doesn't belong in her life,” Rose insisted.

 

“Look, Rosie, I know what she said hurt you.  I understand.  If you recall, she said similar things about me when she heard about my immortality. But you're still visiting us and Pete.  That means you're moving along in her timeline even if you don't see her,” Jack pointed out.

 

“There will come a point where we can't come back to her anymore.  You need to be able to forgive her at some point, love,” the Doctor added.

 

“She isn't sorry,” Rose argued.

 

“You've never given her the chance to say two words to you, Rosie!” Jack countered.

 

“I’m not ready to forgive her yet.  If you don’t want my visiting here either, fine,” she snapped and pushed her way past them, through the door.

 

“There comes a point where forgiving someone else releases yourself, not the person you are forgiving,” the Doctor said sadly, though Rose didn’t hear it.

 

“Take her somewhere quiet for a while, Doc.  Maybe the adventures are keeping her fighting, but not really thinking about all of this,” Jack suggested.

 

“It’s worth a try, I suppose.  I hate that this is eating away at her, Jack.  We were going to try for another baby, but the stress has got her hormones all out of whack.  Don’t even know if she wants that anymore,” he responded sadly.

 

“She will.  Some downtime, maybe a little romance, and you can get her to calm down a bit.  Let us work on Jackie for a bit,” Jack assured him.

 

The Doctor walked despondently back into the TARDIS, not sure exactly what he would be facing when he got there.  Would she be angry with him? Crying again?  Instead, he found that she had pushed it all behind her.  Had she learned that from him?

 

“Where to now?  All of time and space, Doctor, where would you like to go?” she asked teasingly.

 

He considered what Jack had suggested for a moment before going to the controls and setting their destination.  “The past I think.  Off you pop to the wardrobe.  I’ll join you in a moment.  We both need to change for dinner.”


	15. The Snowmen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so pleased with how this turned out!! And, I'm more than halfway through the next part. I was originally a bit worried, but it almost wrote itself once I got going. Feedback is always welcome!!

Rose and the Doctor had been relatively stationary for months.  After a romantic dinner in Victorian London, Rose had asked if they could stay for a while.  Their friends Vastra, Jenny, and Strax lived there after helping them with the trouble at Demon’s Run.  So, it seemed a friendly place for a break.

 

They made frequent trips to visit with their new granddaughter, Clara.  But they avoided the rest of their extended family on Earth for the time being.  Jamie promised that so long as there was no mention of what might be happening with the rest of them, it would be alright for them to cross timelines a bit with Jackie and the others at Torchwood.  They simply couldn't miss out on Clara's early years completely.

 

“Where is my beautiful little, Lady Clara?” the Doctor called as he entered his son’s TARDIS.  They were currently docked together on Barcelona.

 

“Here I am, granddad! Where's gran?” the little blonde responded with a happy squeal when he lifted her up into his arms.

 

“Oh, she’ll be here in a minute.  She was just finding your present,” he told her with a wink.

 

“Why do you call her Lady Clara, dad?” James asked.

 

“Because she is a Time Lady and entitled to be referred to as such,” he answered, tapping little Clara on the nose playfully.

 

“Never hear you calling me Lord James.  I'll forever be little Jamie to you,” James grumbled.

 

“Don't know what you're complaining about. I hated it when they called me Lord Doctor back on Gallifrey,” the Doctor told him.

 

“And that makes it a good thing to call her Lady Clara?” James asked.

 

“I could call her Princess, but I thought that her proper title would be more appropriate,” he replied.

 

“She is my little Princess,” Rose announced as she entered the room.  “And I have a lovely new dress for my little Princess!”

 

“Gran! I'm so glad you're here! Can we go to the beach today?” Clara shouted as she leapt from the Doctor’s arms and ran to hug Rose around the legs. She looked just like her mother, her head a mess of unruly curls, her eyes bright blue.

 

“Of course we can, sweetheart. That's one of my favourite things about Barcelona.  And then, we can all go and get ice cream,” Rose told her.

 

“I'll take the dress and add it to her collection,” River said.  “Good to see you, Rose, Doctor.”

 

“Where are we in your timeline? Are you still in Victorian London?” James asked curiously.

 

“Yes. So, not a word about the others for now.  Let's just enjoy today,” the Doctor insisted.

 

##############

 

Back in Victorian London again, it was wintertime.  Their TARDIS was parked atop a cloud over the park.  The Doctor had made a secret staircase down to nearly ground level and concealed it with a perception filter.  While they were there, the Doctor asked Rose to help him redecorate the console room.  It hadn't been changed since he regenerated, and they could do with something new.  It gave Rose something to do and learn, while she took the time to learn to let go of her mother's statements.

 

She and the Doctor had both shifted their wardrobes to fit the time period, since they were spending so long in one place.  The Doctor had taken to wearing a purple suit and waistcoat, rather than the brown jacket he had chosen after his regeneration.  This look was more classic, and much more planned than the thrown together style he had worn previously.  Rose teased him about changing his wardrobe before changing his face and he explained that he had changed it more often in his earlier regenerations, though always kept with a similar theme to match his tastes.  His new outfit still had a bow tie, the trousers slightly too short with his boots, but it suited him nicely.  Rose wore typical Victorian dresses, not wanting to be called a naked child as she had been in Scotland when they had met Queen Victoria.  

 

They did their best not to be noticed, since the pair had been officially banished from the kingdom, after all.  The only ones that really knew they were there by name were their friends, who needed a bit of secrecy themselves.  But one evening, as they were strolling through the snowy alleyways, they met someone who would change it all.

 

The young woman was wearing a deep red dress with a black shawl, and wore her light, curly hair, pinned up as was the style of the time.  A long evening of serving drinks at the Rose and Crown, however, had made several ringlets fall free to frame her face.

 

She watched Rose and the Doctor walk past the doorway, but when she turned back to go inside, there was a large, sharp toothed snowman standing right in front of her.  She squeaked in surprise and called to them, “Did you make this snowman?”

 

Rose and the Doctor paused and looked at each other. His eyes pleaded with her for a moment before they both turned back.

 

“No,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Well, who did? Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere,” the young woman claimed.

 

The Doctor circled the snowman appraisingly as Rose looked over this stranger. There was something familiar about her, but Rose couldn't place what it was.

 

“Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen,” the Doctor suggested.

 

“What, snow that can remember? That's silly,” she responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“What's wrong with silly?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Nothing. Still talking to you, ain't I?” she countered.

 

“What's your name?” he wondered.

 

The girl glanced between them for a moment, seeming to consider her answer. “Aria.”

 

“Nice name, Aria. You should definitely keep it. Goodbye!” he told her and took Rose’s arm as they continued walking.

 

“Shouldn't we be worried about that?” Rose whispered to her husband.

 

“Are you sure you want to go back to it all yet?” he asked her.

 

“We can solve something here without involving my mum,” she argued.

 

“Oi! Where are you going? I thought we was just getting acquainted,” Aria called to them as she followed.

 

They climbed into the waiting carriage, leaving the girl a few blocks behind them.  They were only slightly surprised to hear Rose’s mobile ringing once they were seated.

 

“How refreshing to see you taking an interest again. Was she nice?” Vastra asked.

 

“Hello, Vastra,” Rose sighed. “We only spoke to her. Not like we're jumping into it all. It’s almost like you don’t want us hanging around.”

 

“You can't help yourself and you know it,” their Silurian friend insisted.

 

“Do you know anything about snowmen appearing out of nowhere?” Rose asked her, knowing that they were out talking to people more often than they were.

 

“I knew it! You are going to help her,” Vastra insisted.

 

“Look, we can solve this ourselves.  We don't need anyone else's help.  The girl can safely get on with her life.  It's not like she’ll ever find us again,” Rose argued.

 

“The Doctor always makes an impact. You know that better than anyone, Rose.”

 

“Yes, but she hasn't got the name, Doctor, has she?” Rose snapped, her patience wearing thin.

 

At that moment, the window in the roof of the carriage slid open and Aria’s face popped into view as she asked, “Doctor? Doctor who?”

 

“What are you doing?! Stop the carriage!” Rose shouted out the window.

 

After insisting that the girl go back to wherever she had come from, the Doctor and Rose got on with their investigation. Alone.

 

#################

 

“I don't understand why I can't just tell them who I am,” Clara complained.

 

“Because your parents and grandparents made it very clear when they dropped you off here a few months ago, that when the Doctor and Rose arrived, none of us could tell them who you are.  They need to figure it out for themselves,” Jenny answered as she helped Clara into her corset.

 

“Why don't they already know who I am? I don't understand,” she pouted.

 

“Because in their timeline, you are only a little girl, not a grown woman.  How old were you when you remember them taking on a new companion?” Vastra explained.

 

“I dunno. Maybe six or seven Earth years? Hard to say since we travelled so much.  It was before I looked into the vortex.  I remember the first time I saw the new console room, it was so different,” Clara told them.

 

“It will all make sense soon, my dear,” Vastra assured her. “Now, you'd best be going. Captain Latimer will be very upset if you're late.”

 

Clara was getting tired of being stuck in one place and time.  She was a Time Lady and wanted to roam all of time and space, like her parents and grandparents did.  She used to, when she was younger, but her parents had insisted that she spend some time here.  She was to study human behaviour, working in the bar and as a governess for some local children.  She liked it well enough for a while, but she was bored.  The appearance of her grandparents was bound to mean that her time here was almost up, and the strange snowman probably meant that an adventure was coming as well.

 

###################

 

“They've taken samples from snowmen all over London. What do you suppose they're doing in there?” Strax informed the Doctor and Rose as they spied on the Institute run by Doctor Simeon.

 

“Why in the world would you need samples of snow? It's just frozen water, isn’t it?” Rose wondered.

 

“This snow is new. Possibly alien. When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?” the Doctor asked.

 

“A grenade!” Strax said excitedly.

 

“Some way to use it to your advantage, I suppose,” Rose guessed.

 

“Exactly. Power. A profit. That's Victorian values for you,” the Doctor replied, disappointed in aspects of the human race once again.

 

“I suggest a full frontal assault with automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid,” Strax told them, as if planning for war.

 

“Yeah, best hold off on that for a bit, Strax. We need a bit more reconnaissance first,” Rose responded, patting him on the shoulder.

 

“But if the snow is new and alien, shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it? Be reasonable,” their Sontaran friend argued.

 

“We need more information.  And I think, my love, that your plan to have Aria getting on with her life safely, isn't quite going as planned,” the Doctor commented as he watched the young girl taking a few snow samples of her own.

 

“Ah, I shall wait for you at the carriage, sir,” Strax told them before quickly making his way back to their transport.

 

“He doesn't usually care if anyone gets suspicious about him. Wonder why he took off?” Rose questioned as she and the Doctor approached Aria.

 

Rose tapped her on the shoulder, surprising the young woman.

 

“Oi!” she cried.

 

“Don't worry. No one's going to hurt you,” the Doctor assured her.

 

“Why are you doing that?” Rose questioned, pointing to the small test tube in her hand.

 

“I don't understand how the snowman built itself. I don't like not understanding,” she answered.

 

“Aria who?” the Doctor asked, looking her over. Like Rose, he sensed there was something familiar about her, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

 

“Doctor who?” she asked, playing his game.

 

“Oh, dangerous question,” the Doctor replied.

 

“What's wrong with dangerous?” Aria questioned.  She couldn't wait to get back to dangerous. Even before her parents had dropped her here, she knew their trips were always safer than the ones her grandparents went on. But she had never been allowed to travel with them.

 

“The snow emits a low level telepathic field,” the Doctor began, missing Aria’s gasp as something appeared behind him.

 

“My snowman,” Aria whispered and Rose noticed it as well, her eyes going wide as she stared at it.

 

“It seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and,” he rambled.

 

“No, Doctor!” Aria interrupted. “My snowman.”

 

“Ah! Interesting. Well, were you thinking about it?” the Doctor asked, connecting his theory to their current situation.

 

“Yes,” she answered.

 

They all turned to run from the frightening snowman, only to have another appear right in front of them.

 

“Best stop then!” Rose suggested, but even more appeared to surround them.

 

“Aria, stop thinking about the snowmen!” the Doctor shouted, doing his best to shelter both of the women from the snow creatures.  One of them breathed snow in their direction as it lunged forward.

 

“Get down! Aria, listen to me. The snow's feeding off your thoughts. You're caught in their telepathic field. They're mirroring you. The more you think about the snowmen, the more they appear. Imagine them melting. Picture it. Picture them melting!” he shouted placing his fingers on the sides of her face.  He had hoped to boost the strength of her mind against the things, but found himself blocked from her mind somehow. He was startled from the realization by the splash of cold water hitting all of them suddenly.  He decided that he must have imagined it. Surely, it had something to do with the girl’s stress level as she tried to block herself away from the monsters.

 

“Well, very good. Very, very good. Ha!” he exclaimed excitedly.

 

“Is that going to happen again?” Aria questioned worriedly.

 

“Well, if it does, you know what to do about it,” the Doctor assured her.

 

“So please, leave this alone, Aria.  We’ll take care of it, I promise,” Rose pleaded with her.  So many people had been hurt by getting involved with them.  As much as they loved River, Amy and Rory, their lives would have been so much easier and less painful if they’d never met their little family.

 

“What about the snow? Shouldn't we be warning people?” she asked.

 

“We’ll take care of it,” Rose insisted.  She and the Doctor walked back to the carriage where Strax was waiting for them, not noticing that Aria was following to see where they had parked their TARDIS.  

 

She wouldn’t reveal herself to them yet, but she missed the Old Girl.  It had been so long since she could feel either of the TARDISes in her head.  The Doctor had done something to shield her mind before she was left here, so that his past self wouldn’t sense the presence of another Time Lord and discover who she was too soon.  It meant that she could barely even feel her own parents, far away as they were.

 

She watched from a distance as they got out of the carriage by the park.  Her grandparents climbed over the fence, despite Rose’s Victorian dress, and laughed together as they ran to the middle of a nearby grassy area.  The Doctor jumped into the air and pulled down a ladder, as if from a fire escape, but out of thin air.  The pair climbed upwards and disappeared, the ladder sliding up into the dark sky as well.

 

Aria ran to the spot in the snow where their footprints disappeared and jumped up herself.  It took a couple of tries, as she was much shorter than her granddad, and she was wearing period shoes.  She climbed up after them, realizing that they had concealed a whole staircase from the world below.  When she reached the top, she saw her favourite sight in the universe.  A large, blue Police Box.


	16. The Snowmen: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that you're enjoying this little story arc. I am loving the way it's turning out. I'm almost done the next chapter, so it won't be long. Please review!! :D

Clara giggled as she approached the TARDIS.  They had parked on top of a cloud! That was brilliant.  She would definitely have to ask her parents why they never did anything like that.  Reaching the side of the large, blue box, she stroked her hand down the side affectionately.

 

She revelled in the feeling of the time ship in her mind, the physical connection allowing her contact.  It had been so long since she had that connection with anyone.  It had terrified her when her grandfather tried to connect with her earlier, but he must have remembered doing that and made sure her shields would hold against him discovering who she was. 

 

There was a sudden click as the door of the TARDIS opened and Clara dashed around behind the ship to hide. 

 

“Hello? Hello? Hello?” the Doctor called as he searched all the way around and Clara ran back down the staircase as soon as she could.  It wasn't time yet, she could feel that much.  

 

The Doctor picked up the shawl he found lying on the cloud next to the TARDIS.  It smelled like Aria, and he knew that the girl must have followed them back to the ship.  She was brilliant! If he wasn't so worried about his wife at the moment, he would insist on taking her with them as a companion.  Maybe that was what Rose needed? To see the universe through fresh eyes again.

 

“We have had a visitor,” he announced, showing her the shawl.

 

“She followed us? What are we going to do, Doctor?” Rose asked worriedly.

 

“I think, we are going to show someone new the wonders of the universe,” he replied.

 

“But,” she began to protest.

 

“No. Trust me, love. You need this just as much as she wants it,” he insisted.

 

“Aria. Do you think? I mean, with the Daleks, wasn't her name Aria?” she wondered.

 

“You know, I think you're right. Could be a coincidence,” he said teasingly.

 

“Coincidence, right.  Although, that girl’s voice sounded completely different,” she decided.

 

#############

 

Clara dressed quickly, Jenny and Vastra still asleep when she left. She decided that she would resign from the Rose and Crown today. Whatever was going to happen here was happening soon, and she could just keep the job as a governess for now.  She couldn't explain it, was still learning how to use her time senses for things like this, but it seemed like that part of this was over. Meeting them outside of the bar had fulfilled her reason for being there, but something with the children was still pulling at her.

 

As she walked outside, she saw that the snow had all melted. “Look at that. Must have thawed in the night.”

 

Her boss at the Rose and Crown was not pleased with her leaving. “I'm begging you, Clara. I'm on my knees,” he pleaded.

 

“Elsie is back this afternoon, and I was only helping out. I've got my own work to get back to,” she told him.

 

“What work? Why won't you ever tell us?” he asked.

 

“You'd never believe me,” she answered with a grin. Never believe that she was a governess, let alone the fact that she was a human/alien hybrid that travelled in time.

 

She hired a carriage to take her back to Captain Latimer’s house, where she would spend the next few days taking care of the children. Unless of course, some kind of adventure came along with the arrival of the Doctor and Rose, as they had always said happened in the stories from her childhood.

 

“Alice, how smart you look today,” she complimented the maid that greeted her.  Clara used her regular accent now, instead of the rough one she adopted at the bar to sound closer to their patrons’ social class.

 

“The governess should enter by the back door, unless accompanied by the children,” Alice told her formally, making both of them laugh.

 

“And how are the children? Excited about tomorrow?” she asked. Human children were always so excited about Christmas.  Her family had always just jumped to the day when they felt like celebrating it. She guessed that maybe that took away a bit of the excitement, not having to wait so long for it to come.

 

“Francesca, same as ever. Digby says he missed you every day. Captain Latimer wants to see you,” she answered.

 

“Of course,” Clara acknowledged. She knew the Captain fancied her, but while he was fairly attractive, he had the intelligence of a sack of potatoes. “Every day?” she added regarding how much Digby said he missed her.

 

“Twice on Saturdays,” Alice said with a smile.

 

“That's better,” she smiled and went to the study to see what the Captain wanted this time. “Captain Latimer.”

 

“Ah. Miss Williams, you're back,” he greeted her with the nervousness he always displayed around her.

 

“In time for Christmas. Apologies for the few days absence. Family illness is so unpredictable. You wanted to see me?” she asked.

 

“Francesca has been having nightmares,” he informed her.

 

“Young girls often do,” she answered.

 

“Every night since you left, she says. Won't tell me about them,” he complained.

 

“Perhaps if you asked her in the right way, there's no one she'd rather tell,” Clara suggested.  She remembered that she used to have terrible nightmares after looking into the Time Vortex when she was eight. Her father had been wonderful in helping her through it, sitting with her, and singing her back to sleep.

 

“Children are not really my area of expertise,” he told her, the excuse falling flat.

 

“They are, however, your children,” she argued.

 

“You have, if I may say, a remarkable amount of wisdom in these matters, for one so very pretty, Miss Williams,” he told her, then startled when he realized what he had said. “Young! I mean.”

 

“I'll see to the children now,” she responded politely, wishing she could leave this time period immediately.

 

She walked out to the garden where Francesca and Digby were playing.  The brother and sister chased each other in a game of tag making her miss her uncle terribly.  They had grown up together, more like cousins than anything.

 

“Miss Williams!” Francesca called excitedly when she saw her.

 

“Miss Williams, you're back!” Digby echoed as they both ran towards her.

 

“Ah, ah, ah!” Clara chastised, insisting on the propriety of the time period.

 

“Good morning, Miss Williams,” they each said to her politely.

 

Clara smiled and shook their hands in greeting. “Good morning, Francesca. Good morning, Digby. Christmas Eve is the most thrilling day, don't you think? Now, what have you two been up to while I've been away?”

 

“I did seven drawings and we saw a dead cow,” Digby told her, delighting in the strangest things. Clara had decided that it must be something about human boys that made them excited over dead animals.

 

“Well, how exciting,” Clara replied.

 

The trio talked a bit more before Francesca told her about her nightmares. Clara guided the young girl over to a bench to sit while they discussed it.

 

“They're not exactly nightmares. Just dreams,” she told her governess.

 

“About our old governess. The one who died. She's haunting Frannie from beyond the grave,” Digby teased.

 

“Haven't you spoken to your father about this?” Clara asked, quite concerned about her.

 

“You can't talk about things like that to Daddy,” she denied.

 

“You could try,” Clara suggested.

 

“Do you want to see where she died?” Digby asked, and Clara decided that it was death in general and not just animals that intrigued human boys.

 

The children led her over to the pond in front of their house.  It was frozen despite the temperature having warmed since the last few days.

 

“She fell in there, and then it froze. She was in the ice for days and days. I hated her. She was cross all the time. In Frannie's dream she's still down there, waiting to come back,” Digby explained.

 

“Everything else has thawed, but this pond is still frozen,” she thought. Remembering the connection of the snowmen with her own thoughts, she considered the possible connection with the ice. Did the ice have a telepathic field connection to this little girl’s dreams? “Frannie, this is important. You dream about her. What do you dream?”

 

“She's cross with me. She says I've been bad, and she's going to come out of the pond and punish me,” Francesca admitted.

 

“When?” Clara insisted.

 

“She said she'd come back for Christmas. Tonight,” the girl told her, nearly crying at the thought.

 

“I think Frannie's gone mad, don't you? I think she needs a doctor,” Digby told her.

 

“I think you may be right,” Clara agreed and hugged the girl tightly. “Don't mention this to anyone else. I'll be back very soon.”

 

Clara ran back to Vastra’s house, gasping for breath as she burst through the door.

 

“I have to call them! We need granddad and gran to help with this, I can't do it on my own,” she insisted.

 

“Calmly now, what is happening?” Vastra asked, guiding her to sit down with them.

 

“The snowmen are feeding on people's thoughts, we know that. But there's this pond at Captain Latimer's, the last governess fell into it just before it froze and was dead in there for days before she was found. Now, the little girl, Francesca is dreaming about her. In her dreams she says that she's coming back out of the pond to punish them.  I know there's some kind of telepathic field involved. I know that man Simeon is involved, but I don't know what to do to stop it! I need their help, Vastra! I have to call them!” Clara rambled fearfully.

 

“Calm down, now. Have some tea, dear,” Jenny said as she handed the girl a cup.

 

“We cannot reveal who you are. A young woman from this time period cannot be using a telephone.  I will call them, let them know that you've found something.  You know well enough that they will come and help,” Vastra assured her.

 

Clara returned to her charges for the evening, where she would do her best to protect the children until her grandparents arrived.  She was sure now, that tonight would be the end of this trip, and soon she would be free to see her family again.

 

Vastra wasted no time in calling the TARDIS. “The young woman, Miss Aria? She seems to have discovered something more about the snow.  I suggest a thorough investigation before this evening.”

 

Rose felt a bit silly visiting Doctor Simeon in these costumes, but her husband generally had a reason for everything, so she didn't question it.  After the last few months perpetually wearing dresses, she was a bit relieved to have trousers on, even if she had to deal with the silly moustache the Doctor had insisted on.

 

She could barely contain her giggles when she heard the servant announce them.

 

“Doctor Simeon, sir. There's someone demanding to see you.”

 

“No callers, not in here, not ever. Did he leave his name?” Simeon responded angrily.

 

“Sir, it's Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson,” the man told him at a bit of a loss as the Doctor pushed his way into the forbidden room, Rose hot on his heels.  He looked ridiculous in the deerstalker hat and cape, but it was all part of the plan to confuse them as they pushed for information.

 

“Oh, nice office. Big globey thing. Take note of it, Watson. Now, shut up, don't tell me! I see from your collar stud you have an apple tree and a wife with a limp. Am I right?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“No,” Simeon replied, unimpressed.

 

Rose took advantage of the distraction to go over to the man’s desk, pretending to take notes, but really searching for information.

 

“Do you have a wife?” he asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Bit of a tree? Bit of a wife? Some apples? Come on, work with me here,” the Doctor continued.

 

“I enjoy The Strand magazine as much as the next man, but I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character. Get out!” Simeon demanded.

 

The servant that had greeted them approached the Doctor to escort them out, but he distracted the man quickly by asking, “Do you have a goldfish named Colin?”

 

“No.”

 

“Thought not. Now, ooo. I see this is one of your business cards. It says so on the front,” he told them as he picked up a card from the desk.

 

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Simeon questioned, resigned to the fact that they would not be easily gotten rid of.

 

“This. Wakey, wakey!” the Doctor shouted as he ran to the giant glass sphere in the middle of the room that was swirling with snow inside. He struck the side of it repeatedly with his cane.

 

“That is highly valuable equipment. You must step away now,” Simeon shouted, trying to stop him from breaking anything.

 

“We are the Intelligence,” a strange voice sounded from the globe.

 

“Ooo. Talking snow. I love new things. That's brilliant, isn't it, Watson?” the Doctor responded excitedly.

 

“Fascinating, Holmes. What do you make of it?” Rose answered, trying to make her voice sound more manly.

 

“No, no, don't do that,” the Doctor told her, breaking character for a moment.

 

“You are not of this world,” the Intelligence interrupted.

 

“Takes one to snow one,” the Doctor joked, laughing at himself.

 

“I can't change my voice, but you can make stupid puns?” Rose protested.  He adjusted his bow tie nervously and turned back to the strange snow-thing.

 

“Right, let's see. Multi-nucleate crystalline organism with the ability to mimic and mirror what it finds. Looks like snow. Isn't snow,” the Doctor rambled, finally proving his own intelligence about what was happening.

 

Simeon went to the wall by the door to ring for more servants to help. “You must leave here now.”

 

“Shut up, I'm making deductions. It's very exciting. Now, what are you, eh? A flock of space crystals? A swarm? The snowmen are foot soldiers, mindless predators. But you, you're the clever one. You're Moriarty. So, you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can, and when you've learnt enough, what do you do? You can't conquer the world using snowmen. Snowmen are rubbish in July. You'll have to be better than that. You'll have to evolve,” the Doctor continued.

 

As the other servants approached, Rose used her sonic to lock the doors into the room.  They began pounding on them from the other side and even Simeon and the servant still with them couldn't open them from the inside.

 

“Sir, it appears to be stuck!” a muffled voice sounded from outside.

 

“What have you done? Have you locked the doors?” Simeon demanded, storming towards Rose.

 

“You need to translate yourself into something more, well, human,” the Doctor decided.

 

“Kick it down!” Simeon called through the door.

 

“To do that you'd need a perfect duplicate of human DNA in ice form. Where do you find that?” he asked.

 

“Right here, Mr. Holmes. You see, most opened file, most viewed page,” Rose told him as she tossed a file folder onto the desk, leaving it to fall open where it was usually opened.

 

“Brilliant, Watson! You know, you really should delete your history. Governess frozen in pond. Gotcha!” he exclaimed and just as the servants had gotten the door opened, he pulled his wife with him out of the large windows behind the desk.

 

#######################

 

“Just like Aria said. The governess frozen in the pond is connected to Simeon and the snowmen. Bright girl,” Rose commented as he paced next to the frozen pond.

 

“Body frozen in a pond. The snow gets a good long look at a human being, like a full body scan. Everything they need to evolve. Good work, Aria. What are you doing here?” the Doctor asked when Strax approached them.

 

“Madam Vastra wondered if you were needing any grenades?” the Sontaran asked.

 

“Grenades?” the Doctor questioned incredulously.

 

“Uh, she might have said help,” he corrected.

 

“Strax, you might have noticed by now, helping with us doesn't generally involve grenades,” Rose told him.

 

“Though there are often explosions,” the Doctor mumbled, earning a slap on the arm. “Right, no grenades, though possibly help, a little bit later. Grenades. Honestly, who do you think I am?”

 

“Sherlock Holmes,” Strax chuckled.

 

“Don't be clever, Strax. It doesn't suit you,” the Doctor complained.

 

“Sorry, sir,” Strax grumbled.

 

“I'm the clever one, you're the potato one,” the Doctor told him, poking him in the forehead.

 

“Yes, sir,” Strax replied, clearly exasperated to be taking orders that didn’t include grenades.

 

“Now go away,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Yes, Mister Holmes,” Strax grumbled and walked away.

 

“Don’t mind him, Strax.  He likes to insult other species when he’s stressed!” Rose assured him.

 

“Oi! I’m only saying it because it’s true. You're not clever or funny and you've got tiny little legs!” the Doctor insisted, calling after the Sontaran.

 

In the upstairs window, they noticed Aria watching them.  She waved and motioned for them to come upstairs.

  
“Looks like we’re heading inside,” Rose sighed and they made their way to the back door to slip in.


	17. The Snowmen: Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, didn't even realize that I hadn't posted this chapter yet. I'm working on the next one, just got delayed due to exams.

“Am I going to have the nightmare tonight?” Francesca asked Clara as she tucked the children into bed.

 

“Definitely not,” Clara insisted.

 

“How do you know?” she questioned.

 

“Because someone's coming to help,” Clara assured her with a smile.

 

“Who?”

 

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” Clara replied.

 

“Is it one of your stories? Your definitely true ones?” Francesca asked excitedly.  Clearly they enjoyed Clara’s stories and one of them just might cheer her up.

 

“Ha! All my stories are true,” Clara insisted.

 

“Like how you were born behind the clock face of Big Ben?” Digby questioned, clearly not believing it.

 

“Accounting for my acute sense of time,” she replied, knowing that her sense of time had more to do with her genetics than where she was born.

 

“And you invented fish,” Francesca continued, reminding her of an even more far fetched tale.

 

“Because I dislike swimming alone,” Clara responded, remembering that story fondly.

 

“So what's this one?” Digby wondered.

 

“There's a man called the Doctor,” she told them as she fondly thought of her grandfather.  “He lives on a cloud in the sky, and all he does, all day every day, is to stop all the children in the world ever having bad dreams.”

 

“I've been having bad dreams,” Francesca argued.

 

“He's been on holiday. But I am confident he has now returned to work. And as a matter of fact, he's right here,” Clara told them as she watched the candle flicker from the breeze of the door opening.  Turning to greet him, she added, “Aren't you, Doctor?”

 

Clara’s bright smile disappeared when she saw, not her grandparents, but a woman made of ice slide into the room.  The children screamed and leapt from their beds as they ran to the opposite side of the room, toward the door that led into their playroom.

 

“Bloomin' hell!” Clara cried at the sight.

 

“The children have been very naughty,” the ice woman announced, following them threateningly.

 

“Get back. Now. Quickly,” Clara warned the children, keeping herself between them and the creature.

 

“Naughty, naughty children,” it repeated.

 

“Run!” she called, ushering the children into the playroom. She shut the door tightly, but knew it wouldn’t hold her for long.

 

“What do we do?” Digby questioned.

 

“Frannie, Frannie, imagine her melting,” Clara instructed, remembering what had happened with the snowmen.

 

“What?” Francesca asked, not understanding what that had to do with anything.

 

“In your head. Melt her,” Clara repeated.  She tried to place her fingers against the girl’s head to bolster her mental strength, but the blocks that her granddad had placed before leaving her there had made it difficult.  She didn’t really have much experience with anything like that anyway.

 

“I can't!” the little girl cried when her thoughts kept circling in fear.

 

“I'm getting impatient!” the ice woman shouted as she finally forced open the door. “You have been very naughty!”

 

“What about the man? You said the man was here, the cloud man,” Digby argued, trying to hope for someone to save them all.

 

“Well, he's not, is he?” Clara cried, just as eager to see him.

 

“Where's the Doctor?” Digby shouted, starting to cry.

 

“I don't know!” she answered, then was surprised to hear a familiar voice, speaking high and squeaky behind them.

 

“Doctor? Doctor? Doctor who?” the voice asked from behind the puppet theatre, a little Punch hand puppet holding the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. Activating the device, the Punch puppet shattered the ice woman and cried out, “That's the way to do it!”

 

The Doctor’s head popped up from behind the theatre and Punch kissed him on the face.

 

“Oi! What are you doing?” a Judy puppet asked from beside him and they playfully started the two puppets fighting with each other.

 

“Where did she go? Will she come back?” Francesca questioned, her heart still racing.

 

“No, don't worry. She's currently draining through your carpet. New setting. Anti-freeze. And you're very welcome, by the way,” the Doctor told them.

 

“I'm very grateful. I knew you'd come,” Clara answered.

 

“And how did you know that?” Rose asked curiously.

 

“Well, I… it’s just. The way that lizard woman talked, like I could count on you to come,” Aria answered awkwardly.

 

The Doctor turned to a mirror over the fireplace to straighten his bow tie. “Well, I am extremely reliable,” he preened.

 

“Right.  Brave, good, and brilliant, I’ll give you, but reliable?” Rose argued.

 

“It's cooler,” Aria commented.

 

“Yeah, it is, isn't it? It is very cool. Bow ties are cool,” the Doctor responded, thinking that she was talking about his new outfit.

 

“No, the room. The room's getting colder,” she corrected.

 

They all looked on in horror as an ominous bulge grew beneath the rug where the ice woman had shattered.

 

“She's coming back!” Digby shouted.

 

“What's she going to do? Is she going to punish me?” Francesca questioned fearfully.

 

“Er, er, she's learnt not to melt. Of course, she's not really a governess, she's just a beast. She's going to eat you. Run!” the Doctor told them.

 

“Always finding the best words to calm down the terrified children, dear,” Rose chastised as they fled the attacking ice woman.

 

Running down the main staircase, the group came face to face with Captain Latimer.

 

“Children, what is the expla... Who the devil are you? What are you doing in my house?” he demanded of the strangers.

 

“They’re my, umm, parents! Yes, these are my parents come for a visit,” Aria told him quickly.  Rose looked at her suspiciously for a moment.

 

“Captain Latimer. In the garden, there's snowmen! And they're just growing out of nowhere, all by themselves. Look!” Alice shouted frantically as she ran down the hallway. 

 

There was a knock on the front door and she rushed to answer it.  Alice was suddenly faced with Vastra and Jenny.

 

“Good evening. I'm a Lizard Woman from the Dawn of Time, and this is my wife,” Vastra told her prompting the poor woman to scream and turn, only to bump into Strax, who had changed from the suit he’d been wearing into his battle armour.

 

“This dwelling is under attack. Remain calm, human scum,” he informed her.

 

Alice fainted on the spot.

 

“So, any questions?” the Doctor asked Captain Latimer.

 

“Your parents look the same age as you,” he protested.

 

The Doctor decided that the man was useless in their situation. “Vastra, what's happening?”

 

“The snow is highly localised, and on this occasion not naturally occurring,” Vastra replied.

 

“It's coming out of that cab parked by the gates,” Jenny added.

 

Looking outside, Rose could see Doctor Simeon standing beside the cab.  Some kind of machine was mounted to it, blowing the alien snow over the entire property.  “It’s Simeon, and he looks far too pleased with himself,” she told her husband.

 

“Sir, one pulver grenade would blow these snowmen to smithereens,” Strax interjected.

 

“They're made of snow, Strax. They're already smithereens,” the Doctor argued.  “See, Aria? Our friends again.”

 

“Aria? Who’s Aria?” Captain Latimer asked.

 

“Your current governess is in reality a former barmaid called Aria,” the Doctor informed him.

 

“That's the way to do it!” came the voice of the ice woman descending the staircase.

 

“Meanwhile your previous governess is now a living ice sculpture impersonating Mister Punch. Jenny, what have you got?” the Doctor prompted and Jenny tossed him a portable containment field generator.  He tossed the ball up the stairs, encasing the ice woman in a sphere of energy.

 

“That should hold it,” Jenny told him.

 

“For a little while anyway,” Rose added.

 

“Sir, this room. One observational window on the line of attack and one defendable entrance,” Strax reported after surveying the nearby rooms in the house and directing everyone into the study.

 

“Right, everyone in there. Now. Move it. You, carry her,” the Doctor directed the Captain to move the unconscious Alice into safety.

 

“Do we have a plan yet?” Rose asked her husband.

 

“Working on it,” he replied and quickly kissed her cheek as they followed the others into the study. “Strax, how long have we got?”

 

“They're not going to attack. They made no attempt to conceal their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily, and they're clearly in a defence formation,” Strax reported his analysis of the situation.

 

“Way, aye, aye. Well done, Straxie. Still got it, buddy,” the Doctor told him, rubbing his head affectionately and kissing his bald head.  He immediately regretted the action.

 

“Sir, please do not noogie me during combat prep,” Strax protested.

 

“So there's something here they want,” the Doctor decided.

 

“The ice woman,” Aria said assuredly.

 

“Definitely, but why do they need her?” Rose asked.

 

“Because she's a perfect duplication of human DNA in ice crystal form. The ultimate fusion of snow and humanity. To live here, the snow needs to evolve and she's the blueprint. She's what they need to become. When the snow melted last night, did the pond?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“No,” Aria answered and he snapped his fingers as the point proved his hypothesis.

 

“Living ice that will never melt. If the snow gets hold of that creature on the stairs, it will learn to make more of them. It will build an army of ice. And it will be the last day of humanity on this planet,” the Doctor concluded, just as the doorbell sounded.

 

“Stay here,” the Doctor told everyone.

 

“Yeah, right,” Rose scoffed and followed him into the hallway.

 

Aria followed as well, prompting both Rose and the Doctor to turn and confront her.

 

“Oi, I told you to stay in there,” he argued.

 

“Oh, I didn't listen,” Aria replied.

 

“You do that a lot,” Rose told her.

 

“Runs in the family,” she said with a smirk.

 

“About that, your parents? Really?” Rose questioned.  It was the strangest thing for her to come up with as an excuse when they really did look about the same age as her.  She couldn’t know that they were really centuries old.

 

“I panicked,” she answered.

 

“You panicked more about who to say we were than about anything else that’s happened in the last few days,” Rose argued, but they were interrupted by the doorbell ringing once again.

 

“Later, you two,” the Doctor told them and opened the front door.

 

“Release her to us. You have five minutes,” Doctor Simeon instructed before turning away again.

 

The Doctor shut the door and consulted with the two women on a plan. “We need to get her out of here but keep her away from them.”

 

“How?” Aria asked.

 

“The usual way,” Rose answered.

 

The Doctor pulled an umbrella from the nearby stand and took his wife’s hand, making their way toward the staircase. “With this. Do I always have to state the obvious?”

 

“Those creatures outside, what are they?” Captain Latimer asked, coming out of the study to see what was going on.

 

“No danger to you, as long as I get that thing out of here. You, in there, now,” the Doctor insisted, pushing him back into the room and closing the door.

 

The Doctor and Rose faced the ice creature through the forcefield and prepared themselves for the usual amount of running and dodging.  Aria was right behind them, of course, unwilling to be left out of the adventure.

 

“What are you doing?” she questioned.

 

“Between you and me, I can't wait to find out,” he told her.  He sonicked the forcefield to let them in and planned to put it back up with Aria safe on the outside, but she ducked inside with them before he had the chance.  The energy field was now up with all of them on the same side as the ice woman. “Right, if you look after everyone here, then I can… Aria!”

 

“Doctor!” she shouted and pulled the two of them out of the way as the creature swung her sharp fingers in their direction, running up the stairs with them in tow.

 

“That was stupid,” he told her.

 

“You were stupid, too,” she argued.

 

“I'm allowed. I'm good at stupid.”

 

“He’s had a lot of practice!” Rose added.

 

“That's the way to do it!” the ice woman repeated, following them up the stairs again.

 

“Why does she keep saying that?” Aria wondered.

 

“Mirroring. Random mirroring. We need to get on the roof,” the Doctor answered.

 

“Will she mirror anything she’s exposed to then?  ‘Cause that’s not from the lady in the pond,” Rose reasoned.

 

“This way!” Aria told them, pulling the couple towards access to the roof, since that’s where he said to go.

 

“No, I do the hand grabbing. That's my job. That's always me!” he protested.

 

The trio ran through the hallways, sliding around the corners and smashing into the walls.  Aria kept one hand firmly on each of theirs as she pulled them behind her.  Rose and the Doctor looked at each other in confusion as Aria seemed to know exactly how their life worked on a daily basis.  When they got to a large window that led out onto a flat section of roof, the Doctor went through first to help the girls after him.  The rooftop was slippery with ice and snow after all, and footwear of the period was not particularly skid-proof.

 

“Come on, quickly! What are you doing?” the Doctor asked when Aria stopped halfway through the window frame.

 

“My bustle is stuck,” Aria complained, not used to the things even after so many months in this time.

 

“Your bustle?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Yes, Doctor, those stupid wire things they put in women’s dresses to make our hips look larger than our waists,” Rose lectured as she helped pull Aria through the narrow opening.  Rose had been climbing all over the place while wearing hers recently, not letting period fashion impede her adventurous nature.

 

“Now, what's the plan?” Aria questioned, dusting off her dress.

 

“Who says we have a plan?  We usually just improvise,” Rose argued, knowing what the Doctor was up to.

 

“Course he’s got a plan. He took that,” she argued, pointing to the umbrella that the Doctor had brought with him.  He hadn’t used it for anything yet.

 

“Maybe I'm an idiot,” the Doctor told her.

 

“You're not. You're clever. Really clever,” Aria insisted.

 

“Are you?” the Doctor asked, tossing her the umbrella. “If I've got a plan, what is it? You tell me.”

 

“That's the way to do it!” the ice woman sounded from the hallway.

 

“Start the countdown,” Rose mumbled.

 

“Is this a test?” Aria asked.

 

“Yes,” the Doctor replied.

 

“With our lives on the line?” Aria questioned.

 

“That's the way to do it!” she shouted again at the window, turning to snow in order to get through.

 

“So, come on then. Plan. Do I have one?” the Doctor pressed before she could reform on their side of the window opening.

 

“Oh, I know what your plan is. I knew straight away,” Aria claimed.  She really only figured it out when she felt the nudge of the TARDIS nearby, but she could bluster with the best of them.

 

“No, you didn't,” he argued.

 

“Course I did.”

 

“Show me.”

 

“Why should I?” Aria asked, knowing that her granddad loved to wait until the last second anyway.

 

“Because we'll be dead in under thirty seconds. Do I have a plan?” he insisted, placing himself between both women and the ice creature as it began to take shape again.

 

“If we'd been escaping, we'd be climbing down the building. If we'd been hiding, we'd be on the other side of the roof. But no, we're standing right here,” Aria rambled quickly to explain her reasoning before showing off.

 

“So?” the Doctor asked.

 

“So!” Aria responded and used the handle of the umbrella to reach up and pull down the ladder that would lead them up to the TARDIS floating over the house. 

 

“After you, Rose,” Aria said politely.

 

“Nah, I’ve got to pull him out of the fire.  Up you get,” Rose insisted and pushed the young girl up the ladder ahead of her.

 

“Come on, love, no time to chat.  Her conversation skills are a bit lacking anyways,” Rose called to her husband as she pulled him onto the ladder behind her.

 

“Yes, dear,” he replied.

 

Once they had cleared the ladder and were onto the stairs, still heading up to the cloud where the TARDIS was waiting, Aria asked them, “So you can move your cloud? You can control it?”

 

“No. No one can control clouds, that would be silly. The wind, a little bit,” the Doctor answered.

 

“She's following us,” Aria told the Doctor worriedly.

 

“All part of the plan.  If she’s following us, she’s not joining Simeon and the snowmen,” Rose explained.

 

“So, barmaid or governess, which is it?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“That thing is after us, and you want a chat?” Aria deflected.  It still wasn’t time yet for them to know who she was.  They had to figure it out without her telling them.

 

“Well, we can't chat after we've been horribly killed, can we?” he argued.

 

“How did we get up so high so quick?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

 

“Clever staircase. It's taller on the inside,” he told her as they reached the cloud.

 

“What am I standing on, what's this made of?” Aria wondered, clouds couldn’t support anything, so there had to be some kind of trick to it.

 

“Super dense water vapour. Should keep her trapped for the moment,” he explained, using his sonic to direct the cloud to block the staircase.

 

“Do you actually live up here on a cloud, in a box?” Aria asked them, knowing full well that it was more than just a box.

 

“Best place to be,” Rose told her with a grin.

 

“You don’t have other places to go?  It can’t just be the two of you all alone, in a box?” Aria questioned.

 

“It’s far more than just a box,” the Doctor told her as he unlocked the door and led them inside.

 

Aria gasped as she took in the console room.  It had been so long since she’d seen it.  She was only a child when her grandparents changed it from the bright yellow and glass room to this.  And shortly after that, she hadn’t been allowed inside their TARDIS again.  Oh, she saw them often enough, but always outside or in her parent’s TARDIS.  She had missed the brushed metal look of it all and the blue lighting, so different from her parents’ home.

 

“It's called the TARDIS. It can travel anywhere in time and space. And it's ours,” the Doctor told her.

 

“But it's... Look at it, it's,” she began, knowing people’s first reactions were his favourite part.

 

“Go on, say it. Most people do,” he prompted.

 

Aria did what she had seen so many people do and walked back outside to circle the ship before reentering.  She decided to tease him a bit though. “It's smaller on the outside.”

 

Rose laughed out loud and the Doctor looked mildly confused. “Okay, that is a first.”

 

“Why are you showing me all this?” she asked him.

 

“You followed us, remember? I didn't invite you,” he told her.  He had known she would follow.  She had already refused to give up when they’d warned her off.

 

“You're nearly a foot taller than I am. You could've reached the ladder without this. You took it for me. Why?” she questioned, tossing him the umbrella.

 

“I never know why. I only know who,” he answered and held up a key to the door.  

 

He gave it to Aria and she felt tears forming in her eyes.  For so long, she’d been told that she couldn’t travel with them.  She had to stay with her parents or go where they sent her.  She had felt so caged in.  She knew that her father had left their TARDIS when he was very young, even built his own Vortex Manipulator, and gone off to University.  Her mother had been a terrible trouble maker in her youth, getting herself thrown in jail on many occasions.  But they had insisted that they had no choice.  She realized now, that just like her mother’s life, her own looped back with her grandparents’ timeline in such a way that they couldn’t change it without causing a paradox.  And the loop was almost closed, meaning that she would be free.  She took the key and allowed a tear to fall.

 

“I don't know why I'm crying,” she lied.

 

“I do. Remember this. This right now, remember all of it. Because this is the day. This is the day. This is the day everything begins,” the Doctor told her excitedly as he started spinning around the console, adjusting the controls to land them safely back on the ground.

 

Clara had been so engulfed in her thoughts and memories that she didn’t hear the creature approach her from outside.  It grasped the back of her dress and started to pull her outside.  The key that she had been so happy to have received, fell from her hand and clinked on the TARDIS floor as she was dragged through the doors, screaming the whole way.

 

“No! Oh my god, Doctor!” Rose shouted and began to race after them.

 

“Aria! Aria!” the Doctor called, following his wife as she chased the ice creature and their new companion toward the edge of the cloud.

 

“Get off of me!” Aria growled at the ice woman.

 

“Water vapour doesn't stop ice. I should've realised,” the Doctor rambled nervously.

 

“Let her go right now!” Rose screamed, reaching to grab Aria and pull her back to safety.  By inviting her, they were taking responsibility for her safety after all.

 

“Help me, please!” Aria begged Rose, their fingertips touching just before she fell over the edge of the cloud.

 

“Aria!!” Rose shouted, almost throwing herself after them, but the Doctor grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back from the edge.

 

The couple looked over the side of the cloud at the ground below and saw Aria lying atop a pile of broken pieces of ice that used to be the unmelting ice creature.

 

########################

 

“What was that?” Vastra questioned when they heard screaming outside.

 

“It's Clara!” Jenny cried when she spotted her lying on the ground outside.

 

Vastra used her handheld scanner to check on her from inside the study. Clara was lying on the ground, with the fearsome snowmen all around her.  The scanner told her that the young woman was close to death and would likely regenerate soon.

 

“Dear God. Oh, dear God. Where did she fall from? We have to get her inside,” Captain Latimer demanded when he looked out the window.

 

“Those things will kill you,” Vastra told him.

 

“She's hurt,” he argued.

 

“She's dead,” Vastra told him. She knew the girl would be alright in the end, but this was a crucial point in the whole time loop. The Doctor and Rose needed to be the ones to get her inside. The TARDIS began to materialize around her in the yard at that moment.

 

“What is that? What is happening?” Latimer asked.

 

“They’re bringing her in,” Vastra told him, though it didn't help his confusion any.

 

When the Doctor carried her into the house, they brought her to the bedroom.  Vastra made sure to give Clara the injection that had been left with her, only having been told that she would know when to use it.  The drug inside would hold off Clara's regeneration long enough to make them believe that the girl had died, allowing her to properly regenerate after they were gone.

 

“That green woman said she was dead. How can she be alive now?” Captain Latimer asked.

 

“This technology has capacities and abilities beyond anything your puny human mind could possibly understand. Try not to worry,” Strax replied, in as soothing a manner as a Sontaran was capable.

 

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was scanning the fragments of ice from the creature with his sonic.  Rose sat on the jumpseat, crying softly.

 

**“** Isn't the creature still a danger? It could reform,” Vastra asked the Doctor.  

 

“No, not in here,” he answered, feeling his wife's grief and guilt flowing over him.

 

“Then you should be with Miss Aria,” Vastra told them.

 

“She's going to be fine. I know she is. She has to be,” he assured her.

 

“It's my fault. I should have been faster. I should have caught her. It's all my fault,” Rose cried.

 

“What is the point of blaming yourself?” Vastra questioned, worried about her friends despite knowing that this would all work out for the best.

 

“None. Because she's going to live,” the Doctor insisted, wrapping his wife in his arms. “This is as much on me, my love. I wanted to bring her onto the TARDIS. I should have known that the cloud wouldn't hold back a creature of snow and ice.”

 

“Why didn't the Wolf help me save her?” Rose questioned, looking up at him.

 

“You need to remember, the when you became the Bad Wolf, you saw all of time and space.  That power, as wonderful as it is, is guided by what can be and what must not.  But I believe that the Wolf didn't save her, because it didn't need to. So, let's go and finish this shall we? Then we can take our new companion on her first trip,” he insisted and pulled Rose to stand with him.

 

Rose carried the metal box that the Doctor used to store the up melting ice creature pieces that they would use as leverage with Doctor Simeon.  Before they left to face him, however, they went to speak to Aria.

 

“Hey. Hello,” the Doctor said to her softly.

 

“They all think I'm going to die, don't they?” Aria asked.  She knew she could regenerate, but had been told by Vastra that it would be held back while her grandparents were there and it might be painful for her.

 

“And I know you're going to live,” the Doctor told her.

 

“How?” she questioned, worried that he had figured it out.

 

“I never know how. I just know who,” he insisted, repeating his former words and again, handing her the TARDIS key.

 

“Aria, I am so sorry about what happened. I should have been faster, to catch you,” Rose told her, tears streaming down her cheeks again.

 

“It's alright, you can't change the past,” Aria said softly. 

 

“We’re going to fix this, Aria. And then, we want you to come with us, please,” Rose told her, kissing the young girl's hand.

 

“Yes,” she answered, her blue eyes sparkling.

 

“Well then. Merry Christmas,” the Doctor said with a grin.

 

He took Rose’s hand and walked with her to the front door, where Simeon was waiting.  Rose held up the box tauntingly as the Doctor spoke.

 

“We have, in this box, a piece of the Ice Lady. Everything you need to know about how to make ice people. Is that what you want? See you at the office!” he told them, then slammed the door.  

 

“We’re taking the TARDIS?  Is it something to do with that globe thing?” Rose asked him as she helped pilot the ship to the study at the Institute where they pretended to be Holmes and Watson.

 

“Yes, you said it yourself.  The ice lady was mirroring whatever she came across.  The snow itself doesn’t have a consciousness, it just copies.  Who knows how long that thing has been feeding off of Simeon, but he’s been channelling all of his hate and greed into it for years.  What we need to do is cut the puppet strings,” the Doctor explained and held up the jar he’d been searching for.

 

“And how is that Memory Worm supposed to help?” Rose wondered.  “It just made me miss a couple days of our vacation in the New Caribbean last time.”

 

“Yes, well, brief contact only erases small amounts of your memory.  If it bites you, you can lose decades.  So, we hide this inside the box and let it bite Simeon.  Then, he’s still alive, but forgets about all of this and is therefore not mentally controlling the Intelligence anymore,” he told her.

 

“Sounds suspiciously like a plan.  I hope it works,” she said as they emptied the metal box of the dangerous ice and carefully replaced it with the worm.

 

“Of course it will work! Are you doubting my brilliance, Rose Tyler?” he gasped as they piloted the ship into Simeon’s office.


	18. The Snowmen: Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: One more little story arc done! I hope you liked it. I'll be rewriting a good portion of the series, but I will skip a bit. Some because it doesn't fit with the different relationships, some because there isn't much to change. I've already got almost half of the fiftieth anniversary episode stuff done, so I'm really aiming for that.... though I have a few ideas for things after that, we'll see.

Rose sat in the Doctor’s lap as they waited for Simeon to arrive at the Institute.  It was a rather scandalous arrangement for the times, but considering the man was trying to kill everyone, they didn't particularly care if they offended him at all.

 

“You promised us something. Have you brought it?” Simeon questioned abruptly upon entering the study.

 

“Big fella here's been very quiet while you've been out. Which is only to be expected, considering who he really is. Do you know what this is, big fella?” the Doctor asked, holding up the metal box.  It happened to be decorated with images of the London Underground, but it was merely a coincidence.

 

“I do not understand these markings,” the Intelligence replied.

 

“A map of the London Underground, 1967. Key strategic weakness in metropolitan living, if you ask me, but then I have never liked a tunnel,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Enough of this. We are powerful, but on this planet we are limited. We need to learn to take human form,” the Intelligence argued.  The Doctor used his sonic to take the voice filter off of the thing and the pitch changed. “The Governess is our most perfect replication of humanity.”

 

“What's happening to its voice?” Rose asked.

 

“Just stripping away the disguise,” he told her.

 

“No, stop! Stop that. Cease, I command you,” it shouted angrily, finally settling into the tambour of a young boy.

 

“It sounds like a child. Simeon as a child?” Rose guessed.

 

“Right you are,” he beamed, tapping her on the nose playfully. “The snow has no voice without him.”

 

“Don't listen to him, he's ruining everything,” the Intelligence protested.

 

“How long has the Intelligence been talking to you?” the Doctor asked Simeon, who was looking confusedly at the globe filled with swirling snow.

 

“I was a little boy. He was my snowman. He spoke to me,” Doctor Simeon answered hesitantly.

 

“But the snow doesn't talk, does it? It's just a mirror,” the Doctor insisted. “It just reflects back everything we think and feel and fear. You poured your darkest dreams into a snowman and look, look what it became.”

 

“Can you stop it, Simeon?” Rose asked, hoping he could break the connection himself, but the man just stared absently at the globe.

 

“It's a parasite feeding on the loneliness of a child and the sickness of an old man. Carnivorous snow meets Victorian values and something terrible is born,” the Doctor continued.

 

“We can go on and do everything we planned,” the Intelligence argued.

 

“Oh yes, and what a plan. A world full of living ice people. Oh dear me, how very Victorian of you,” the Doctor replied.

 

“What's wrong with Victorian values?” Simeon growled. Having decided to continue with his plan, he grabbed hold of the box in the Doctor’s hand.

 

“Ah, ah, ah. Are you sure?” the Doctor asked him.

 

“I have always been sure,” he snarled and stuck his hand inside the box.

 

They could see the moment that the memory worm bit him as he flinched in pain and froze tensely in place.  

 

“Good. I'm glad you think so, since your entire adult life is about to be erased. No parasite without a host. Without you, it will have no voice. Without the governess, it will have no form,” the Doctor explained.

 

Doctor Simeon’s eyes went glassy as his mind was slowly erased of years of hatred.

 

“What, what, what's happening? What's happening? What did you do?” the Intelligence questioned from the globe.

 

“You've got nothing left to mirror any more. Goodbye,” the Doctor announced, clearly believing that it was over.

 

“What did you, did you,” the voice stuttered, but suddenly deepened as the snow swirled even stronger than before. “Did you really think it would be so easy?”

 

“Hope you've got a plan B, Doctor,” Rose commented.

 

“That's not possible. How is that possible?” the Doctor denied. “But you were just Doctor Simeon. You're not real. He dreamed you. How can you still exist?”

 

“Now the dream outlives the dreamer and can never die. Once I was the puppet,” the Intelligence told him and took over the now icy body of Simeon. “Now I pull the strings! I tried so long to take on human form. By erasing Simeon, you made space for me. I fill him now.”

 

Rose backed away, looking around the room for something to use as a weapon against it.  She gasped as it grabbed hold of the Doctor. She knew she had to do something, but she didn't want to risk hurting either of them when it was only the Intelligence that needed stopping.  She saw the fire poker nearby and grabbed it.

 

“More than snow, more than Simeon. Even this old body is strong in my control,” he gloated, wrestling with the Doctor to try and touch his face, it seemed as though Simeon could now freeze others with his touch. “Do you feel it? Winter is coming!”

 

Rose pounded on the sides of the giant glass sphere, desperately hoping that if she could destroy it, it might break the connection between the consciousness and the body of Doctor Simeon.  Whatever it was made of, however, was not easily broken.

 

The Doctor and Simeon continued to fight for control until suddenly, the snow in the globe turned to water and splashed to the bottom.  The Intelligence inhabiting Simeon lurched back as if in pain.

 

“What's happening?” it demanded.

 

“Doctor! The snow is all turning to water. Even outside, it's raining now.  What could cause that?” Rose asked as she pulled her husband into her arms.  He had a patch of skin on his face that appeared a bit frost bitten, but his superior biology would take care of it quickly.

 

“The snow mirrors, that's all it does. It's mirroring something else now. Something so strong, it's drowning everything else,” he answered.

 

“Look, he's dead,” Rose told the Doctor when she saw Simeon’s body lying on the floor.

 

“It formed a connection with that little girl, the one who was dreaming about the ice woman. If something happened there,” he postulated.

 

Rose immediately used her mobile to call Vastra back at the house. “Vastra! What's happening over there?”

 

“I think it would be best if the two of you came back,” she replied.

 

#########################

 

“I'm sorry. There was nothing to be done. She has moments only,” Strax told them as the pair exited the TARDIS.

 

“We saved the world, Aria, and you helped. You really, really did,” the Doctor told her sadly as he took the girl’s hand in his own.

 

Rose ran to her other side and took her other hand.  The children and their father were crying in the corner of the room.

 

“Oh, Aria. I am so, so sorry,” Rose cried.

 

“Are you going back to your cloud?” Aria questioned.

 

“I… I can't,” Rose stuttered, clenching her eyes shut against the tears streaming down her cheeks.

 

“I forgive you. You know, someone once told me, when you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future,” Aria told her, though it was becoming more difficult to talk.  The drug she had been given was starting to push her into unconsciousness so that her regeneration wouldn't start yet.

 

“I'd rather change the past,” Rose told her.

 

“Sometimes, forgiving is even better,” Aria sighed and closed her eyes.

 

The Doctor pulled his wife into his arms as she cried. “I think we should go,” he told Vastra.

 

“We will take care of everything,” she replied and watched as they left in their TARDIS. She wasted no time in calling Clara’s parents, “It's time, they've gone.”

 

A moment later, an ornate display cabinet appeared in the corner of the room, a frantic James and River running out of the seemingly tiny door.  James picked up his daughter immediately and carried her back inside.

 

“Did we make it in time?” River asked worriedly.

 

“Of course, she’ll be fine. I just wish that she hadn't used up one of her regenerations before I did. I'd prefer not to outlive my children,” he answered.  

 

James placed her on the bed in his infirmary, taking careful readings of her while he prepared the medicine that his father had given him to counteract the other drug. Once administered, she would awaken and begin her regeneration.

 

Vastra, Jenny, and Strax followed them into the room and watched as Clara’s parents took care of their little girl.  They had all known these events were unavoidable, the time loop having been established when Clara was just a little girl, but it didn't make the change any easier to accept.

 

“Here we go,” James told them, injecting the solution into her arm.  Almost instantly, a golden glow shimmered over her skin, prompting everyone to back away.

 

The energy burst was very brief, but once they could all see clearly again, their blonde haired, blue eyed daughter had been replaced with a petite brunette. She sat up abruptly and looked around the room, confusion evident on her face.

 

“Your attire, sir, is quite inappropriate,” Clara told Strax, striding past him and down the hallway.  They all followed her, not sure where she was going.

 

She turned into the galley and started making tea, which James decided was probably a good idea.  His mother had told him that tea had helped immensely during his father's regeneration from his ninth to tenth self.

 

“Madam, why in the world are you wearing trousers? Such indecency will not be tolerated!” Clara shouted when she noticed River’s clothing. 

 

Clara's parents looked at each other worriedly for a moment. “She seems to be having some memory troubles,” James realized.

 

“Clara, sweetie, do you know where you are? Do you know who we are?” River asked her, carefully approaching her confused daughter.

 

“I am in a kitchen.  Clearly, I need to make a soufflé!” she announced and began pulling ingredients from the various cupboards, ignoring all attempts to stop her.

 

#########################

 

The Doctor and Rose sat together in the console room.  She had stopped crying, but was staring despondently at the glowing time rotor as he stroked her hair.

 

“Is that Intelligence thing gone, then?” she questioned.

 

“No, I shouldn't think so. It learned to survive beyond physical form,” he told her.

 

“Should we be worried then? That you’ve told it the London Underground is a key strategic weakness?” she teased.

 

He pulled out Simeon’s business card from his pocket and studied it.  “The Great Intelligence. Rings a bell. The Great Intelligence.”

 

“Someone you’ve met before?” she wondered.

 

“Maybe,” he considered.

 

“What about Aria?  I thought she was the one we met on the Dalek Asylum planet?” Rose asked, worried that they might have messed up the timelines with her not surviving.

 

“Perhaps it really was just a coincidence,” he answered.

 

“Coincidences are one of the only nearly impossible things in our lives, but maybe.  I need some cheering up, love.  Let’s go visit with Jamie, River, and Clara,” Rose told him.

 

“Your wish is my command,” he replied and began setting the coordinates.

 

########################

 

They met up with the other TARDIS at one of Clara’s favourite playgrounds.  It was close to her great grandparents’ house, as well as their extended family at Torchwood.  The only place that she liked almost as much was visiting with her Uncle Anthony, Gran Amy, and Grandpa Rory.

 

The Doctor stayed with Jamie and River to chat while Rose took little Clara to play on the swings, her curly, blonde pony tails bouncing as she ran.

 

“Come on, Gran! Come swing with me!” she shouted behind her.

 

“Are you sure that I’m not too old for swings?” Rose questioned as she sat on the swing next to the little girl that had stolen her heart.

 

“Nope.  Daddy says that we’re all going to live for a really, really long time and we’ll never stop running and swinging and having adventures forever!” Clara told her as she pumped her legs to swing higher and higher.

 

“Your daddy is absolutely right,” she agreed, swinging fairly high herself.

 

“Why do you seem sad, Gran?” Clara wondered.

 

“Oh, your Granddad and I just had an adventure that didn’t end so well.  And it was my fault, so I feel bad about it,” she answered.

 

“Did you say you were sorry? Did the people forgive you?” the little girl asked curiously.

 

“Yes, but I still feel bad for not helping her more.  Someone was hurt very badly and I should have been able to stop it,” Rose explained.

 

“Mommy says that saying you’re sorry and being forgiven is really important, but I’m trying to figure out why if you still feel bad after?  Since we can travel in time, wouldn’t it be better to go back and undo what you did?” Clara suggested.

 

“Well, there are lots of reasons why we can’t do that.  Reasons involving the stability of the timelines and established events and stuff.  But I guess the most important thing is what we learn from the events.  Making mistakes helps us to become better people in the future,” Rose told her.

 

“Is that what he meant, then? We met this man once, he was from the radio or something and he told me, when you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future,” Clara said, considering the advice that she had been pondering for some time. “I didn’t really understand what he meant. I told him that I'd rather change the past.”

 

“Sometimes, forgiving is even better,” Rose replied automatically, then gasped.  That was what Aria had said to her right before she died!

 

“Gran? Is something wrong?” Clara questioned when Rose had stopped swinging next to her.

  
“Oh my god,” Rose whispered, staring into her granddaughter’s eyes and finally realizing why Aria had seemed so familiar to her.  “Doctor!”


	19. ┓┏ 凵 =╱⊿┌┬┐

“Danger. This is a warning. A warning to the whole world. You're looking for wifi. Sometimes you see something,” the man in the YouTube video said, holding up a paper with a bunch of symbols written on it.  “A bit like this. Don't click it. Do not click it. Once you've clicked it, they're in your computer. They can see you. And if they can see you, they might choose you. And if they do, you die. For twenty four hours, you're dead. For a while. People's souls are being uploaded to the internet. And some people get stuck. Their minds, their souls, in the wifi. Like echoes, like ghosts. Sometimes you can hear their screams on the radio, on the telly, on the net. This is real. This is not a hoax. Or a joke. Or a story. This is real, and I know that, because I don't know where I am. Please, please, if you can hear me, if you can hear me, I don't know where I am.”

 

Clara frowned at her computer screen as the video ended with a bunch of static.  The symbols wouldn’t translate for her, so she wasn’t sure if they actually meant anything or were just nonsense.  It could be a hoax; some kids messing around, but something about it seemed genuine.  She checked the local wifi networks, and sure enough, there was an available network labelled with the same symbols. Best be careful then.

 

Heading downstairs, she found Angie and Artie were home from school.  Their parents were friends of her Aunt Donna and their mother had recently passed away.  As a favour, Clara was helping out as a nanny to the children until their father got himself organized after the tragedy.

 

“Angie? Are you using the internet?” Clara questioned.

 

“Yeah.  Don’t usually disconnect anything,” she replied.

 

“Ok, well, just don’t use any networks you aren’t familiar with.  There’s something going around.  Viruses and stuff,” Clara told her, hoping that sounded convincing. “You done your homework?”

 

“Shut up, you're not my mum,” Angie snapped at her.

 

“And I'm not trying to be, okay?” Clara answered calmly.  She knew the children were just upset still and might lash out at her.  They didn’t mean it, of course, so she could let it go.

 

Their father, George, was taking Artie out for the evening and they were about to leave. “Right. Yes. Angie's probably fine on her own. You can probably have the night off,” he told Clara.

 

“I'm okay. I'll be upstairs on my computer,” Clara assured him.

 

“Anyway, the adverts are in, so hopefully we'll find someone,” he sighed.

 

“I'm here as long as you need me. Aunt Donna offered to help too, just your house isn’t quite accessible enough for her, but they could go over to hers for a bit. Jackie and Pete could come by anytime,” Clara responded, letting him know that there would always be people around to help.

 

“Good. Right, come along, Artie. Time to go,” George said, shaking off his melancholy in the face of things that needed to get done.

 

Clara noticed that Artie was reading a book written by her Gran Amy, called Summer Falls.  She smiled and asked him, “What chapter are you on?”

 

“Ten,” he replied.

 

“Eleven is the best. You'll cry your eyes out,” she informed him.  It was a very good book.  Her gran had taken to writing quite a bit after the time loop involving the novel in New York.  In fact, while they were awaiting the birth of her Uncle Anthony, she had written quite a few novels.

 

Artie and his father left for the evening and Angie was off, talking to her friend on the phone.

 

“Right.  Could call mum and dad.  Could phone Torchwood, this is right up their alley. But, I’m supposed to be past the loop with Granddad and Gran Rose.  And they did ask me to go with them the last time I saw them,” she considered with a smirk.

 

Going back up to her room in the converted attic space, Clara pulled out her mobile and called the Doctor’s TARDIS phone. “Oh, come on! Just answer. Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up.”

 

“Hello?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Hello, I’ve got a mystery that might just interest you,” she told him teasingly.

 

“Who is this?” he questioned.

 

“Well, I suppose that depends on when you are?” she told him.

 

“I’ve heard that voice before.  Know I have.  Where are you?” he demanded.

 

“You can’t have heard this voice, it’s brand new!” Clara protested.

 

“Now I know it’s you, Clara.  I repeat, where are you?” the Doctor responded.

 

“Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll text gran the coordinates.  Will you come help me, though?”

 

“Of course we’ll come, when would we ever not come help you?” the Doctor questioned.

 

Angie came running up the stairs at that moment, asking, “Is it okay if I go and see Nina? You can call her mum.”

 

“Sure. Remember to bring your key with you,” she called after her.  Clara couldn’t be sure that she would be home that evening if she was going to be solving a mystery with her grandparents after all.

 

“Who are you talking to?” the Doctor asked over the phone.

 

“Oh, nevermind.  I’ll text you and see you soon,” Clara told him and rang off.

 

It was only a moment later that she heard someone frantically ringing the doorbell and knocking at the front door.  She excitedly descended the stairs to greet them.

 

“Hello? Yes, I hear you,” she called, but the knocking continued until she opened the door and said, “Hello.”

 

“Clara?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Oh my god, Clara!” Rose shouted and immediately pulled her into a hug.

 

“Hello, gran,” Clara said, slightly squished.

 

“What are you doing here? In a house?” the Doctor asked confusedly.

 

“Oh, sweetheart! You regenerated from that fall,” Rose sighed, holding her even tighter.

 

“Oh, gran, it wasn’t your fault. You and dad knew it was going to happen before they sent me there,” Clara assured her.  “I didn’t, of course, but mum and dad came to help as soon as you were gone.”

 

“That still doesn’t explain you living in a house,” the Doctor interrupted, pushing past them to look around inside.

 

“I’m working as a nanny for a friend of Aunt Donna’s.  The kids’ mother passed away recently and they needed some help,” Clara explained.

 

“Working?” the Doctor questioned, a disgusted look on his face.

 

“Not like it’s anything new, granddad.  Spend most of my life doing boring things like working,” she complained.

 

“Why in the world would you be doing that?” Rose wondered, that didn’t sound like something Jamie and River would want for their daughter.

 

“Because of the time loop that I finally completed. Ever since the point in my childhood that you’ve just reached until now for me, has been fixed.  Nothing dangerous, no travelling with the two of you.  But it’s done now!  Does that mean that I can come with you?” she asked brightly.

 

“Of course you can, sweetheart!  Goodness, you must have nearly died of boredom,” Rose told her.

 

“No travelling at all?” the Doctor questioned, aghast that their granddaughter had been essentially grounded for so long.

 

“Well, no, we travelled.  But it was always so safe and careful, and I kept hearing about all of the amazing adventures that the two of you always had, but I was never allowed to travel on your TARDIS,” Clara explained.

 

“Because she’s going to be with us now and can’t cross her future self, right?” Rose asked her husband.

 

“I suppose so.  Even more so, now that she’s told us that’s what she remembers,” he sighed.

 

“Ugh, you mean I just condemned my own childhood to that just by saying it now?  Oh, I can never get this stuff right!” Clara grumbled.

 

“What stuff?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“I sort of borrowed mum’s vortex manipulator a few years ago and went to the Blitz.  I bumped into mum and dad while they were on their honeymoon.  I managed to stop an invasion while I was there, but I shouldn’t have been there without them,” she admitted.

 

“During the Blitz?  They shouldn’t have been there either!  What if they ran into the Doctor and I while we were there?” Rose argued.

 

The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment as the memory of meeting Jamie and River unlocked in his mind.  “Oh dear.  They did.  I locked away the memory for you, love,” he told her and reached for her temples to release it for her as well.

 

Rose laughed.  “You didn’t do anything worse than those two did.  Heck, we ran into a past Doctor with Jamie when he was just a toddler once.  It happens, sweetheart.  No harm done.”

 

“Right! Anyway,” the Doctor interrupted, clapping his hands. “You said something about a mystery.”

 

“Yeah, there was this video I saw on the internet.  Something about people getting uploaded and disappearing.  It said there was this wifi network and I checked, and the same thing was showing up on my computer,” Clara explained.

 

“Ok, let's have a look,” he suggested and they followed her upstairs.

 

After watching the video and looking at the odd wifi network as much as possible, the Doctor gave in and simply clicked the thing.  They waited for a while, but nothing seemed to be happening.

 

“How old are you now?” Rose asked her.

 

“About twenty five, I think,” Clara replied.

 

“Blimey, and you've spent the last seventeen years doing boring safe stuff and jobs and things? Oh, my poor little princess! You need some adventures!” Rose insisted.

 

“Absolutely, as soon as we’re done here, I know just the place.  A family outing! Jamie and River can come along.  It'll be fun!” the Doctor pronounced excitedly.

 

“Well, not much going on around here right now.  Could I go make us some tea, sweetheart?” Rose asked.

 

“Sure, gran. Do you need help?” Clara offered.

 

“No, I'm sure I can find my way around,” she assured her and went downstairs.

 

Clara and the Doctor were still fiddling with her laptop as Rose searched the kitchen for what she needed to make tea. She was startled while reaching for a packet of biscuits by a young girl entering the room.

 

“Hello! My name’s Rose.  I'm a friend of Clara’s.  What's your name, dear?” Rose greeted her.

 

The girl tilted her head slightly, staring blankly at Rose.  Something was wrong and she sent a sudden telepathic warning to her husband as she continued looking at the silent girl.  The child’s head started turning around unnaturally, but before she could do anything else, Rose found herself trapped in an unknown, yet slightly familiar situation.

 

####################

 

“Right, so something was supposed to happen when I clicked that thing.  Maybe there's nothing happening after all?” the Doctor rambled.

 

“I'm sorry, I thought there was something about it, but I'm not very good at using my time senses for that kind of thing,” Clara apologized.

 

“Nonsense! You just haven't…” he trailed off as he got the sense that something was wrong downstairs.  He ran to find his wife, Clara following worriedly. “Rose? Rose!”

 

“What's wrong? Did something-? Oh my god,” Clara gasped as they came across a young girl, but where her face should have been, there was a metallic, concave dish.  As if reflected in the surface, an image of Rose was shouting, silently, for the Doctor.

  
He was instantly kneeling by her unconscious body on the floor, his sonic whirring around her head.  When that seemed to be unable to help, he shifted the sonic over to the girl.  With a slight shimmer, it turned into a small, metal robot. “Oh no you don't. Clara, get your laptop,” the Doctor growled angrily.


	20. Something in the Wifi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I am so sorry about the wait for this. School has kept me insanely busy. But, I'm counting down the days until I'm finished in the beginning of August now. I hope you like this, although the ending is very different from the show.

“What is it, granddad?” Clara questioned as she handed over her laptop.

 

“Walking base station. Walking wifi base station. Hoovering up data. Hoovering up people,” he explained as he used the computer to hack into the thing in front of them.  He could see that their system was slowly absorbing Rose’s consciousness.  “Oh no, you don't. Oh no, you don't,” chanted as he typed furiously to reverse the process.  “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not this time, my love, I promise.”

 

“Do you need me to try it?  I’m really good with computers,” Clara suggested.

 

“No time.  Almost… Got it!” he cried triumphantly as a burst of energy flowed back from the little robot into Rose and the thing collapsed.  

 

Rose remained unconscious, on the floor.  Clara dove to her side and checked her vitals as the Doctor sent a message back to the people running whatever system was stealing these people.  The message was simple, “UNDER MY PROTECTION - The Doctor”

 

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Clara asked him worriedly.

 

“Her brain’s a bit scrambled from what they did to her.  Best get her inside the TARDIS.  The Old Girl will be able to help her best,” he explained, picking up his wife and heading toward the front door.

 

Clara followed closely, pulling the door shut behind her.  She took the TARDIS key from her pocket.  He had given it to her just before she ‘died’ back with the snowmen, and she’d hidden it in her pocket at the time.  She never wanted to let it go again.  The Doctor winked at her as she happily unlocked the time ship for him and opened the doors widely.

 

He carried Rose to their bedroom and laid her down on top of the covers.  It wouldn't take long for her to recover, but she would be the most comfortable waking there.  Clara had followed and he led her to sit in the two chairs by the fireplace, so they could talk while waiting for Rose.

 

“I won't ask anything about your past.  It would be better for all of us if we just lived it at this point. So, what I would like to know is, what would you like for your future?” the Doctor questioned her.

 

“I've always wanted to travel with you and gran.  To have real adventures and save people, just like in all the stories I've heard. I feel like I've waited forever for this,” Clara told him excitedly.

 

“It seems like you've been left out of a lot.  You definitely need some excitement. We could start a list! A list of all the places you should visit,” he decided.

 

“Oh, come off it! I know you never end up where you plan to go,” she teased.

 

“I resent that statement, young lady!” he protested.

 

“1869,” Rose called to him from the bed, sleepily.

 

“You're awake! I was so worried,” he cried and ran to his wife’s side.

 

“Hello,” Rose said with a smile.

 

The Doctor grinned at her goofily. “Hello.  Feeling better?”

 

“I'm in bed,” Rose realized.

 

“Yes you are.”

 

“Why exactly am I in bed?” she wondered.

 

“What's the last thing you remember happening?” he asked.

 

“I was making tea, but this girl walked into the kitchen. It gets kind of strange after that.  Sort of like with the Wire.  I was in a kind of fuzzy place and I couldn't find you,” she explained.

 

“It was very much like that.  Only this time, you weren't in a television, more like a space on the web,” he told her, kissing the back of her hand lovingly.

 

“Glad you're alright, gran,” Clara interrupted.

 

“Oh, Clara, come here, sweetheart!” Rose called.  Her granddaughter ran to join them and sat on the edge of the bed, where Rose could give her a hug.

 

“Are you going to explain what happened, granddad?” Clara asked curiously.

 

“There's something in the wifi,” he began.

 

“Okay. Like a virus or something?” she wondered.

 

“Not exactly. This whole world is swimming in wifi. We're living in a wifi soup. Suppose something got inside it. Suppose there was something living in the wifi, harvesting human minds. Extracting them. Imagine that. Human souls trapped like flies in the world-wide web. Stuck forever, crying out for help,” he continued rambling.

 

“Isn't that basically Twitter?” Clara joked.

 

“Ugh, how long have you been hanging around with humans?” he scoffed at the mention of social media.

 

“Oi!” Rose protested.

 

“You've been travelling the universe for centuries, my love. I don't think you count as entirely human anymore. At least not a typical twenty first century human,” he insisted, easing the statement with a peck on the cheek.

 

“Do you think there are more of those walking base station things?  Running around, masquerading as regular people?” Clara wondered.

 

“Possibly. We may need to do some reconnaissance to find out and track them down,” he answered.  “Do you feel up to the task, Rose?”

 

“Yup! No after effects now.  Time to solve a mystery,” she told him brightly, hopping up from the bed.

 

Back inside the house, the thing that had attacked Rose, was gone.  Clara left a note for the family, stating that she would be out for the evening at least, and would call them soon.  She again assured them that Jackie, Donna, or Jack would be happy to help if needed.

 

The Doctor kept Clara's laptop with them as they made their way to a nearby park.  It seemed that the mysterious wifi network was available everywhere, even in the middle of the park, where they were likely very far from most wireless sources.

 

“Is it the people, then?” Rose asked him. “One of these people isn't really a person at all?”

 

He scanned the area with his sonic quickly and peered at the results for a moment before going back to typing on the laptop. “They all scan as human, but there's definitely something like that going on.”

 

“Can you track it back to the source?” Clara questioned, looking over his shoulder.

 

“I'm trying, but it keeps getting rerouted in circles. Maybe we should phone Mickey, he was always good at this stuff,” the Doctor admitted.

 

Clara scoffed at that. “Dad is better than Uncle Mickey, you just don't want to admit it. Besides, I'm even better than dad.”

 

“Doctor, where has everyone gone?” Rose interrupted their little debate.

 

He looked up from the laptop and glanced around the park.  All of the people that had been happily enjoying the beautiful evening outdoors, had vanished. “That is most likely not good.”

 

“Wait a minute! There's someone,” Clara told them, pointing to a man in a bright construction jacket.

 

He stood at the edge of the park, staring at them for a moment, before pulling a flare from his pocket.  After lighting it, he simply stood and waited, holding it above his head.

 

“Why's he doing that? That is rather odd behaviour,” the Doctor commented considering. He knew this was part of whatever was going on, but what good would a flare like that do?

 

“Is he being controlled then? Do they have control over all of those people to send them out of the park?” Rose guessed.

 

“A computer can hack another computer. A living, sentient computer, maybe that could hack people. Change their minds in some way,” he theorized.

 

“So, he's one of those base station things like back at the house?” Clara asked.

 

“I saw a little girl. They can look like anyone then?” Rose told them.

 

“Active camouflage. They could be everywhere,” he realized.

 

“And he is holding a flare right here, where we are. Are they looking for us or something?” Rose wondered and they were suddenly aware of a growing rumbling sound nearby.

 

“Some planes have wifi,” the Doctor realized and pointed to the sky. A huge airplane was heading straight for them and the man with the flare. “TARDIS. Now!” he suddenly shouted, dragging the two of them along with him.

 

“Are they trying to crash a plane on top of us?!” Rose questioned incredulously.

 

“It would seem that way,” the Doctor replied. Looking back over his shoulder, the man with the flare was chasing them, and keeping up admirably.

 

“What's the plan once we reach the TARDIS?” Clara wondered.

 

“Working on it. First priority is to get us out of danger, then get the people on that plane out of danger, then generally save the planet,” he answered, snapping his fingers to open the doors quickly.

 

The Doctor and Rose immediately ran to the console to pilot the ship onto the airplane so they could redirect it.  Clara watched them nervously, still questioning what they planned to do.

 

“Shut up, please. Short hops are difficult,” the Doctor snapped.

 

“Oi! You can still be nice,” Rose chastised.

 

“Sorry,” Clara mumbled meekly.

 

“Right, come on,” he told them and took his granddaughter’s hand in apology.

 

“We're going to go back out there?” she asked worriedly.

 

“Next part of the plan, remember?” Rose told her with a smirk.

 

“We’ve moved away from the plane?” Clara guessed.

 

“Not exactly,” he answered, opening the door and running down the aisle between the seats.

 

“This is the plane? The actual plane? Are they all dead?” Clara questioned as she looked at all of the people on board, slumped in their seats.

 

“Asleep. Switched off by the wifi. Never mind them,” the Doctor informed her.  He used his sonic to open the cockpit door and looked over the controls.  “Rose, have you learned to fly a plane in our travels?”

 

“We took those biplane lessons about a hundred years ago, but I doubt these controls match up,” she admitted looking over his shoulder.  “They’re not far off from that thing on the Christmas Tree planet though.”

 

He got out of her way and allowed Rose to flick a few switches before pulling back on the stick to get the plane out of danger. While she was doing that, he sonicked the on board wifi to release the control over the pilots and passengers.

 

“Whoo! Would a victory roll be too showy offy?” he asked Rose, kissing her on the cheek.

 

“I’m not rolling this thing,” Rose protested as the pilots started to wake up.

 

“What the hell's going on?” one of them asked.

 

“Well, I'm blocking your wifi so you're waking up, for a start. Tell you what, do you want to drive?” the Doctor told him, taking Rose’s hand to run back into the TARDIS.

 

“Next destination?” Rose asked her husband when they got back to the controls of their own ship.

 

“Breakfast!” he announced and began to input the coordinates that would land them not too far from their favourite London café.

 

“Isn’t it a little early for breakfast?” Clara questioned, since it was only early evening in her timestream.

 

“It’s always a good time for breakfast,” Rose responded with a smile.

 

“And, they can waste all their energy looking for us while we take the short way ‘round,” the Doctor added.

 

Landing in such a public area might be expected to attract some attention, but as usual, no one noticed the large, blue box appearing out of nowhere.  The perception filter kept anyone from noticing anything unusual.  Clara and Rose stood just outside in the bright sunshine, as they waited for the Doctor.  A moment later, they heard the rumbling of an engine, followed by a large motorcycle with a sidecar rolling through the double doors.

 

“Ooh, that looks familiar,” Rose purred, taking her helmet from her husband as he handed it to her and nodded for Clara to hop into the sidecar.  She climbed on behind the Doctor and wrapped her arms around his waist.

 

“Why aren’t we taking the TARDIS?” Clara questioned as she fastened her own helmet.

 

“I don't take Her into battle,” he replied as he started off toward the café.

 

“Right. Don’t want the most powerful ship in the universe falling into the wrong hands,” she agreed.

 

It was only a few minutes to reach their destination, and the trio chose a little table on a rooftop terrace, with a nice view of London.  The table was filled with coffee and pastries for them to snack on, as the Doctor continued working on the computer.

 

“Definitely London going by the signal distribution. I can hack the lowest level of their operating system but I can't establish a physical location. The security's too good,” the Doctor admitted.

 

“So, what happens when you do find them?” Clara questioned.

 

“I don't know. I can't tell the future, I just work there,” he answered dismissively.

 

“You don't have a plan?” Clara gasped, wide eyed.  She always thought that her grandparents were the most amazing people in the universe, the way they saved entire civilizations all the time.

 

“Oh, you know what I always say about plans.”

 

“What?” Clara asked.

 

“He never has one,” Rose interjected with a laugh.

 

“People always have plans,” Clara protested.

 

“Yes. Yes, I suppose they do,” he agreed.

 

“But not us,” Rose added.

 

“So tell me, how long have you been looking after those kids?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“Just a couple of months, since their mum died,” she told him, stirring her coffee absentmindedly.

 

“Okay. Why you? They couldn’t have Jackie or someone do it instead? Why did it have to be you?” the Doctor wondered.  The poor girl had been stuck with such a boring childhood.  They needed to make it up to her somehow.

 

“Gimme,” she said, reaching for her laptop.  She clearly didn’t have the answers for the questions he was asking.  That would be best asked of her parents and the others at Torchwood.

 

“Sorry. What?” he asked confusedly.

 

“She told you that she’s even better with computers than Jamie.  Give her a shot at it if you’re stuck,” Rose insisted.

 

“You need to know where they physically are. Their exact location,” Clara reasoned.

 

“Yes.”

 

“I can do it. You've hacked the lower operating system, yeah? I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. I have insane hacking skills,” she told them and began typing at lightning speed.

 

“The security is absolute,” the Doctor insisted, but watched her with growing curiosity.

 

“It's never about the security, it's about the people,” she replied, prompting a smirk from Rose.  Yup, this was their granddaughter.  Completely brilliant.

 

Rose got up from the table to get another croissant from the counter. “That one, please,” she told the man.

 

“One moment,” he replied then blinked before saying, “He's very easily distracted, isn't he?”

 

“I'm sorry, what?” Rose wondered. That seemed like an odd thing to say.

 

“One moment, ma’am,” he repeated and continued making someone's coffee before twitching again.  “I said, he's very easily distracted over there.  And don't annoy the old man. He isn't, in fact, speaking.”

 

“I'm speaking. Just using whatever's to hand,” a passing waitress interjected.

 

Rose followed the young woman, trying to see if there was anything about her to give away what was happening.  As she stared at her however, the young lady blinked and asked, “Is everything alright, ma'am?”

 

“Yes, sorry,” Rose stuttered and glanced back to the terrace where the Doctor and Clara were animatedly talking over the laptop.

 

“Now I want you to take a look around. Go on, have a little stroll. Go on, take a look. I do love showing off,” the waitress instructed, clearly being controlled once again. “Just let me show you what control of the wifi can do for you. Stop!”

 

At her command, everyone in the room froze in place.  Rose tried to get the Doctor's attention telepathically, but he was far too distracted by whatever plan Clara had come up with, and she decided that it would be best for them to keep working on it while she distracted this thing and tried to get some answers.

 

“We saw perfectly well what you could do with that airplane. Why are you doing this?” Rose responded.

 

“And clear,” the woman announced and everyone immediately rose to leave the room. “We can hack anyone in the wifi once they've been exposed long enough,” the controller told her, speaking through the person on the nearby television screen.

 

“I don't know who you are or why you're doing this, but the people of this world will not be harmed. They will not be controlled. They will not be...” Rose insisted.

 

“The people of this world are in no danger whatsoever. My client requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free-range, human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it,” the woman on the television informed her.

 

“Who is your client? Who is in charge of all this?” she demanded.

 

“I'm not at liberty to say,” she replied casually.

 

“It's obscene. It's murder. You're taking their souls and wadding them up in some sort of limbo,” Rose shouted angrily.

 

“It's life. The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King,” she taunted.

 

“The human race are not cattle!” Rose screamed, her eyes flashing gold with fury. “This ends. We are going to end this today.”

 

“You think so? From inside?” the waitress from earlier said, standing right next to Rose as her head suddenly turned to reveal the same sort of dish shape as the last time.

 

Rose fell to the ground as her mind was pulled into the network once again.  This time, however, the wolf had awoken.

 

#########

 

“I did it. I really did. I did it. I did it. I found them,” Clara cheered.

 

“That was incredible. Taking control of their webcams to get pictures of the employees, then cross referencing the photos with all of the social media networks to find out where they all go to work everyday.  Absolute genius!” the Doctor praised.

 

“The Shard. They're in the Shard. Floor sixty five,” Clara said proudly.

 

“Rose! We've got them!” he called, then realized that something was terribly wrong. “Rose?” 

 

Running inside, the Doctor and Clara found her unconscious once more.  He immediately pressed his fingers to her temples and Rose’s eyes opened to reveal the terrifying glow of the Bad Wolf. 

 

“I think they may have gotten a bit more than they bargained for. To the Shard!” he announced and pulled his granddaughter with him back toward the motorcycle.

 

They sped their way toward their goal in concentrated silence.  Clara knew all too well the stories about how furious the Doctor would become if anyone threatened his wife.  She knew that, with her gran not present, it would be up to her to keep him from passing his usual limits.  He was capable of a lot, but would hate himself afterward if he had gone too far.

 

“Really, Doctor. A motorbike? Hardly seems like you,” a man called to them when they were stopped at a red light.

 

“Rose and I rode this in the antigrav Olympics, 2074. We came last, but it was a hell of a ride,” he responded and continued driving down the street.

 

A few blocks later, a construction worker turned to inform them, “The building is in lock-down. I'm afraid you're not coming in.”

 

“Did you even hear the word, antigrav?” he countered.

 

Clara smirked when she realized what was about to happen and gripped the handles inside the sidecar tightly before he pressed the large red button on the bike.  In a moment, they were speeding up the side of the large glass building, counting the floors as they went. He sonicked the glass to shatter just as they reached the appropriate level in the motorcycle followed the path inside.

 

Leaving the bike by the window, he moved to sit at the large desk and crossed his feet on the surface. Clara looked over the screens around the room and saw that the end of this was already underway.

 

“Do come in,” a woman greeted them from the doorway.

 

“Download her.”

 

“Sorry about the draught,” she said with a gesture toward the large hole that was now in her office.

 

“Download her back into her body right now,” the Doctor demanded.

 

“Granddad,” Clara whispered, trying to draw his attention.

 

“I can't,” the woman insisted.

 

“Yes, you can.”

 

“She's a fully integrated part of the data cloud, now. She can't be separated,” she told him.

 

“Then download the entire cloud. Everyone you've trapped in there,” he ordered angrily.

 

“You realise what would happen?” she asked.

 

“Yes, those with bodies to go home to would be free,” he answered plainly.

 

“A tiny number. Most would simply die,” the woman argued.

 

“They'd be released from a living hell. It's the best you can do for them, so give the order,” he insisted.

 

“And why would I do that?” she questioned stubbornly.

 

“Because that was your last chance to give up voluntarily,” he told her.

 

“You ridiculous man. Why did you even come here? Whatever for?” she demanded.

 

Clara realized then that he knew exactly what was happening to the network.  She didn't have to point it out. And she wouldn't have to hold him back either, he was already offering her a chance to back away.

 

“I told you. Last chance. UNIT is on the way to arrest everyone here and I could put in a good word for you,” he informed her, but she simply glared at him.  With a shrug, he typed into the computer in front of him, ‘Now.’

 

“You see, my wife, remarkable woman that she is, was a very poor choice on your part. You really ought to be more careful with what you save in your hard drive,” he told her.

 

In a flash of gold, all of the scrolling codes on the surrounding screens began to disappear as if eaten away.  The woman stared in shock and suddenly collapsed on the floor herself.  The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Rose waking up back in the café.  He told her that they would be by in a moment to pick her up and nodded toward the motorcycle. “Time to go, before UNIT expects me to answer questions,” he told Clara with a shiver.

 

She laughed and shook her head as she climbed back into the sidecar.

 

#########

 

Back inside the TARDIS, Rose relayed to their friends and family at Torchwood what had happened. UNIT had been insisting about wanting answers and knew that the Doctor had been involved.  Apparently, all of the people that had been working there couldn't remember anything of their lives for the past several months. In fact, the older woman that had seemed to be in charge, thought she was a six year old child.  Whatever this power was, it seemed very familiar and dangerous. But how does one capture a disembodied consciousness?

 

“Is it the Intelligence again? The thing with the snowmen?” Rose questioned.

 

“Perhaps. But what more can we do than keep watch for now?” the Doctor replied.

 

“How about a vacation? I believe I was promised a trip,” Clara interrupted.

  
“Quite right! Now, our timeline with your parents has you as a little girl. Perhaps, if they're to come along, you ought to call the Jamie and River in your timeline,” he told her cheerily.


	21. Rings of Akhaten - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the terribly long wait for this chapter!! I got a bit stuck on it, but I think I have it all worked out now. Thank you for sticking with me on this.

“Hello, mum! I'm with gran and granddad and they were wondering if you'd like to join us on a little trip,” Clara told River from her mobile.

 

“Of course, sweetheart. Keep on the line and we’ll lock onto you,” her mother answered.

 

James and River docked their TARDIS inside the Doctor's and made their way to the console room.

 

“Jamie! It's so good to see you,” Rose exclaimed and ran to give him a hug.

 

“Hi, mum, dad. I can see where you are with Clara at this point, but I have a feeling that you're also with Clara at a different point as well?” James prompted.

 

“Brilliant, Jamie, absolutely brilliant.  Yes, other than this crossing, which seems to be rather fixed, as far as we knew Clara was about seven.  Well, as close as we can ever keep track of these things,” the Doctor informed him.

 

“So, you haven't gone to visit gran Jackie then?” he questioned.

 

“No,” Rose admitted softly.

 

“In your own time, Rose. It'll be alright,” River told her comfortingly.

 

“In the meantime, where are we heading, dad?” James asked brightly.

 

“Somewhere that I haven't been for a very long time.  It made for a wonderful family outing last time, so I'm sure we'll have a marvellous time there,” the Doctor rambled as he programmed their coordinates.

 

Jamie and River moved to help him pilot, while Rose showed Clara some of the basic controls.

 

“Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten,” the Doctor announced as he led them all outside.

 

They found themselves standing on a small asteroid, overlooking a vast field of similar rocks.  They varied in size, some large enough that there were hundreds of people and several buildings erected on them.  All of them were circling a relatively close star.

 

“It's…” Clara gasped.

 

“Gorgeous,” Rose filled in for her.

 

“It is. It so completely is,” he agreed, putting an arm over each of their shoulders.  “But wait, there is more.”

 

“More what?” Clara wondered.

 

“Wait, wait, wait,” the Doctor insisted as he checked his watch.  It automatically adjusted to wherever they landed and he hoped that he had gotten them to exactly the right time. “In about five, four, three, two.”

 

As he counted down, it became apparent just what they were waiting for. The asteroids around them shifted just enough to reveal a larger rock, almost the size of a moon. On it, there was a large, golden pyramid that shone brightly in the sunlight.

 

“Is the TARDIS extending the oxygen for us out here?” River questioned.

 

“Yes, only the larger, inhabited areas would have an atmospheric shell set up,” James informed her.

 

“What is it?” Clara asked, still staring at the glistening pyramid.

 

“The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten. It's a holy site for the Sun Singers of Akhat,” the Doctor explained.

 

“The who of what?” Clara asked.

 

“Goodness, Jamie, what kind of schooling did you give her growing up?” he chastised, but continued with his lesson as James and River rolled their eyes. “Seven worlds orbiting the same star. All of them sharing a belief that life in the universe originated here, on that planet.”

 

“All life?” Clara questioned, knowing full well that almost every civilization in the universe had a creation myth that centred around their own world.

 

“In the universe,” the Doctor concluded.

 

“Did it?” Clara questioned.

 

“Unlikely,” James told her.

 

“Well, it's what they believe. It's a nice story,” the Doctor admitted.

 

“Can we see it? Up close?” Clara pleaded.

 

“Of course we can, that's why we're here,” Rose answered, leading everyone back into the TARDIS so that they could move closer to the action.

 

The TARDIS landed with a thump in the middle of a bustling bazaar.  Around them, aliens of all types were excitedly buying and selling merchandise from all over that area of space.

 

“Where are they from?” Clara questioned enthusiastically as she took it all in.

 

“Oh, you know, the local system, mostly,” the Doctor told her.

 

“What do I call them?” she asked.

 

“Well, let's see. Ah! There go some Panbabylonians. A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah! Qom VoTivig,” he listed as he pointed out the different races and exchanged greetings with several of them.

 

James and River strolled behind the Doctor and Rose as Clara darted around, exploring everything.  They had been so disappointed to have to keep her relatively grounded as a child, but the Doctor had been adamant when he told them about her predetermined future.  They had tried to keep their travels as safe as possible for a while, but that had proven useless, as she seemed to have her grandmother’s propensity for wandering off and finding trouble.  It meant finding things for her to do on Earth for the most part.

 

“That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt. You don't see many of them around any more. Oh! That's an Ultramancer. Do you know, I forget how much I like it here. We should come here more often,” the Doctor continued rambling.

 

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Rose agreed, looping her arm through his.

 

“You've been here before?” Clara asked him.

 

“Yes, yes, yes. I came here a long time ago with my first granddaughter, Susan,” he told her.  Rose and James both felt the sadness echoing through their link to him at the thought of his family from long ago.  Rose squeezed his hand in support.

 

The Doctor squeezed back, but then resorted to his usual tactics and pushed the melancholy away with manic distraction.  He ran through the crowd towards a fruit vendor’s stall.

 

“Hang on!” Clara shouted as she raced after him. She didn't want to miss a thing.

 

He pulled a glowing blue ball from one of the baskets and scanned it with his sonic, just to be safe. “Exotic fruit of some description. Right. Non-toxic, non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals and low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder,” he explained and handed it to Clara.

 

She made a bit of a face and passed the fruit along to Rose, who tasted it and offered it to James and River as well. No one seemed to care for it much, so the Doctor didn't buy any more of them.

 

“So, why is everyone here?” Clara wondered.

 

“Looks like some kind of festival to me,” Rose commented.

 

“This is the Festival of Offerings. Takes place every thousand years or so, when the rings align. It's a vital ceremony to their culture,” River told her.

 

“Archeologist,” the Doctor grumbled under his breath. He hated when he wasn't allowed to show off on his own.

 

James smirked at his father's typical reaction to his wife's brilliance. “It was a great choice for a trip, dad.”

 

“Oh! Er, granddad?” Clara called when she found herself face to face with an alien who seemed to be barking at her.

 

The Doctor proceeded to bark a response as he joined her quickly.

 

“What's happening? Why is it angry?” Clara questioned.

 

“And what is wrong with the translation circuit?” Rose added.

 

“This isn't an it, it's a she. I asked the TARDIS not to translate so that Clara could learn a few new languages on this trip. Dor'een, meet Clara. Clara, meet Dor'een,” the Doctor explained as he introduced the barking alien to his granddaughter.

 

“Doreen?” Clara asked.

 

“You can ask the TARDIS to translate for me at least, please. I don't fancy offending anyone and getting carted off to the nearest prison, thanks,” Rose insisted and the Doctor sighed.  

 

The translation circuit did depend on his knowledge of the languages a bit and his constant connection to the ship in that respect meant that it only took a thought before it came back online for the travellers. He supposed that he would have to find other ways to teach Clara more alien languages. Rose was right of course, the wrong word could have them all in quite a bit of trouble.

 

“Loose translation. She sounds a bit grumpy but she's a total love actually, aren't you? Yes, you are. No, actually, she's just asking if we fancy renting a moped or two,” he told her.

 

“So, how much does it cost?” Clara wondered.

 

“Not money. Something valuable. Sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that. That's what's used for currency here. Psychometry. Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold,” he explained.

 

“That's horrible,” Clara gasped.

 

“It really is. Those kinds of things could never be replaced and what value could they possibly hold to someone else?” Rose agreed.

 

“Better than using bits of paper,” he argued.

 

“Then you pay,” Clara insisted.

 

“With what?” he countered.

 

“You're a thousand years old. You must have something you care about.”

 

“He never has money,” Rose sighed as she pulled something from her pocket.

 

“No!” James, River, and the Doctor all shouted when they saw her holding a small pendant from her mother.

 

“Mum, please. I know that you're upset with her right now. But please, don't lose what you have left with gran. It  _ will  _ get better,” James insisted, taking her hands in his and closing her fingers around the jewelry.

 

Clara watched sadly as her family pleaded with Rose to forgive great gran Jackie.  She remembered seeing them together and happy when she was younger, but their timelines were a bit twisted for the time being.  As she considered these things, she saw a young girl running fearfully around the corner.  Seeing that her parents and grandparents were still busy, she ran after the young lady to help, if she could.

 

She walked through a dark, silent storage room, looking for the girl and called to her, “Are you okay?”

 

Two men in official looking uniforms stopped in front of her. “Have you seen her?” one of them demanded.

 

“Who?” she asked innocently.

 

“The Queen of Years,” he clarified.

 

“Who?” Clara repeated. The idea of the little girl being a queen seemed odd and she didn't much like the thought of handing her over to these people while she was afraid.  Maybe she could convince the girl to go willingly back to wherever she was supposed to be and walk her there herself.

 

The men split up to search the place and left Clara alone.  Once they were out of earshot, she whispered, “Hello?”  The was a sudden clang as something fell over and Clara turned to see the girl standing in front of her. “Hey. Are you okay? Are you lost?” she asked the frightened child.  The girl ran away from her again, but was easily found.

 

“Are you alright? What are you doing?” Clara wondered.

 

“Hiding,” she answered obviously.

 

“Oh. Why?”

 

“You don't know me?” the girl questioned, clearly used to everyone knowing who she was, and that it would be obvious why she would run away.

 

“Sorry. Actually not,” Clara told her.

 

“So why did you follow me?”

 

“To help. You looked lost,” Clara replied honestly.

 

“I don't believe you,” the young girl said, looking like she might run off again in an instant.

 

“I've got no idea who you might be. I've never been here before. I just saw a little girl who looked like she needed help,” Clara insisted.

 

“Really?”

 

“Really, really,” Clara responded with a reassuring smile.

 

“Can you help me?” the girl wondered.

 

“That's why I'm still here.”

 

“Because I need to hide,” the girl said, the fear in her eyes returning as she remembered what she was running from and became less focussed on her new friend.

 

A terrifying whisper echoed through the darkness, “Merry. Where are you, Merry?”

 

“I know the perfect place,” Clara told her and took the young girl’s hand as she led her back outside toward the TARDIS.

 

“What's this?” she questioned as Clara huddled them behind the time ship.

 

“A space-shippy thing. But we don't have to go inside. We can stay right here,” Clara assured her. “What's your name?”

 

“Merry,” she replied softly.

 

“So, what's happening? Is someone trying to hurt you?” Clara asked.

 

“No. I'm just scared,” Merry told her.

 

“Of what?”

 

“Getting it wrong,” she explained, though it didn't really help Clara understand anymore than before.

 

“Okay. Can you pretend like I'm totally a space alien and explain?”

 

“I'm Merry Gejelh,” she said.

 

“Really not local. Sorry,” Clara repeated, getting a bit frustrated with the whole conversation.

 

“The Queen of Years? They chose me when I was a baby, the day the last Queen of Years died.”

 

“Okay,” prompted the girl to go on. Her mother would know what that meant and could probably explain the whole ceremony, but she hadn't studied the history of the entire universe while she was stuck on earth.

 

“I'm the vessel of our history. I know every chronicle, every poem, every legend, every song,” Merry finally told her.

 

“Every single one? Blimey, that's a lot to remember,” Clara replied.

 

“And now I have to sing a song in front of everyone. A special song. I have to sing it to a god. And I'm really scared,” she admitted.

 

“Everyone's scared when they're little. I used to be terrified of the dark.  Then there was this storm while I was staying with my Gran Amy.  All the power was out in the middle of the night and I couldn't see anything. It wasn't even my own bedroom.  My worst nightmare come true,” Clara told the frightened young girl.

 

“What happened?”

 

“I screamed and screamed until my Grandpa Rory came to the rescue. He held me until I stopped crying. My gran brought me tea and candles, then she tucked me up and she told me a story,” Clara explained.

 

“And you were never scared again?” Merry questioned.

 

“Oh, I was scared lots of times, but not of the dark anymore. So, this special song. What are you scared of, exactly?” Clara asked.

 

“Getting it wrong. Making Grandfather angry,” she said, looking at the ground ashamedly.

 

“And do you think you'll get it wrong? Because I don't. I don't think you'll get it wrong. I think you, Merry Gejelh, will get it very, very right,” Clara encouraged her.

 

The little girl hugged Clara and allowed her to walk her back to one of the men who were searching for her earlier.  

 

“There you are! Wandering off again?” River called to Clara.

 

“What have you been doing?” the Doctor asked curiously.

 

“Exploring. Where are we going now?” Clara told them simply.

 

Rose winked at her, having seen the young girl that Clara had befriended. There was more to her little adventure, she was sure, but they could talk about it later.


	22. Rings of Akhaten - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Sorry about the delay, but after two exams, I'll be officially done school!! I'm going to try not to rush through the next few story arcs and do them proper justice, but I am a little over excited about what I've got half written already for the 50th rewrite. So enjoy the Rings of Akhaten and next comes Ice Warriors!!!

The Doctor rushed his family to some seats to watch the main event of the festival.  They were a little bit late and had to be very quiet as they sat on the crowded benches.

 

_ “Is that the little girl you befriended earlier?”  _ River asked Clara telepathically.

 

_ “Yup.  She said she’s the Queen of Years and has to sing a special song.  What does that mean?” _ she wondered.

 

_ “The texts are always a bit vague about the whole thing.  Hopefully, nothing too bad,”  _  River replied.

 

Merry looked back at Clara nervously for a moment when she was positioned on the pedestal in front of everyone, facing the golden pyramid.  Clara smiled at her encouragingly, and she turned to sing her song toward the pyramid and the sun. Her song was beautiful and they all listened while the Doctor explained telepathically what was happening.  He couldn’t communicate directly with River and Clara, but Jamie relayed it along to them.

 

_ “They're singing to the Mummy in the Temple. They call it the Old God. Sometimes Grandfather. It’s called The Long Song. A lullaby without end to feed the Old God. Keep him asleep. It's been going for millions of years, chorister handing over to chorister, generation after generation after generation.” _

 

They watched as everyone around them suddenly held out various personal objects.  Before their eyes, the items disappeared in a glitter of golden sparkles.

 

_ “What was that?”  _ Clara questioned her family silently.

 

_ “Something we should have done to take part. Everyone brings offerings to the festival, gifts with personal value, to offer to the Old God,”  _ River explained.

 

Everyone paused, nearly stopped breathing, and the singers went silent, when there was a terrifying rumble from the pyramid.  Suddenly, Merry was lifted from her place by a bright beam of energy and pulled through space toward the golden structure.

 

“Okay, what's happening? Is that supposed to happen?” Clara questioned aloud.

 

“Help!” Merry cried.

 

The Doctor started to march angrily back to Dor’een to rent a moped after all, but James grasped his arm.

 

“Hang on, dad. We can get over there with this,” he insisted, pulling a vortex manipulator from his pocket.  It never hurt to have the option, even if they rarely used it. James quickly programmed the coordinates as he glanced at their target, experience over his years of travelling without a TARDIS giving him an advantage over his parents. “Grab on.”

 

The Doctor, Rose, River, and Clara all placed a hand over the device and, in a flash of blue light, they found themselves just outside of a large, heavy, solidly closed, stone door.  Rose and the Doctor staggered a bit, less used to travel without a capsule than their offspring.

 

“Merry!” Clara gasped as she pounded uselessly against the door.

 

By the time the Doctor and Rose had regained their equilibrium, James and River were already scanning the door for the controls.

 

“Looks like an acoustic lock. They literally sing it open,” River informed them.

 

“The key changes ten million zillion squillion times a second,” James added.

 

“Can you open it?” Clara pleaded with her parents.

 

James and River looked doubtfully at each other, then towards the Doctor. He dusted himself off and straightened his bow tie before scanning the door with his own sonic.

 

“Well?” Rose prompted.

 

“Technically, no. In reality, also no, but still, let's give it a stab,” he answered and started modulating frequencies on his sonic.

 

“How can they just stand there and watch?” Clara questioned, her eyes damp.

 

“This is what they expected to happen. This is what always happens to the Queen of Years,” River told her.

 

“But she's a child!” Clara argued.

 

“And he's a god. Well, he is to them, anyway. They feed him sacrifices so that he leaves them alone,” River explained.

 

“How can you be ok with this, mother?” Clara demanded.

 

“I'm not, otherwise we wouldn't be here trying to save her and stop the cycle, sweetheart,” River insisted.

 

“Enough, you two! Clara, she was telling you how they justify it for themselves, not her own opinion on the matter. We will stop this, and these people will not have to sacrifice anyone again,” Rose assured her.

 

“Anything, dad?” James asked worriedly.

 

“Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, hello!” the Doctor exclaimed.

 

“Hello what?” Clara asked.

 

“The sonic's locked on to the acoustic tumblers,” he replied.

 

“That's good, yeah?” Rose hoped.

 

“Yup! Means I get to do this,” he said as he dramatically raised the stone door, seemingly pushing it upwards with his sonic. He stood beneath it as the others rushed through to help Merry.

 

“Hello there. I'm the Doctor, and you've met Clara. She was supposed to be having a nice day out. Still, it's early yet. Are you coming, then? Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?” he rambled at the little girl who was staring at them, clearly terrified.

 

“Leave. You'll wake him,” she warned them.

 

“Really quite extraordinarily heavy,” the Doctor added as he fell to his knees, struggling with the door. Rose moved to help him and tied her sonic to match what his was doing as they both held the door.

 

There was still one man in the room, singing to the mummy enclosed in a glass case. He nervously continued his chanting despite the intrusion.

 

“Merry, we need to leave,” Clara told her and tried to urge her out of the pyramid.

 

“No. Go away!” Merry shouted angrily.

 

“Not without you,” Clara insisted.

 

“You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong. And now this has happened. Look what happened!” Merry cried.

 

“You didn't get it wrong,” Clara assured her.

 

“You really didn't,” River added when she saw the girl about to protest. “There was never a way that this was going to end safely for you. But we are here to help so that you and all of the future people here are not sacrificed anymore.”

 

“How do you know? You don't know anything. You have to go! Go now, or he'll eat us all,” Merry argued.

 

“Well, he's ugly. But you know, to be honest, I don't think he looks big enough,” Clara said teasingly, to lighten the mood a little.

 

“Not our meat, our souls,” she corrected. “He doesn't want you. He wants me. If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too.”

 

“Yes, and you don't want that, do you? You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back?” the Doctor asked her still struggling to hold open the stone barrier with Rose.

 

“Yes.”

 

“I see. Right. Clara's right. Absolutely never going to happen,” the Doctor told her and grasped his wife’s hand to pull her out with him in a forward roll before the stone slammed shut behind them.

 

“Did you just lock us in with the soul eating monster?” Clara asked incredulously. 

 

“Yep,” he replied as he straightened his tie.

 

“And is there actually a way to get out?” Clara wondered hopefully.

 

“What? Before it eats our souls?” 

 

“Ideally, yes,” Clara replied.

 

“There is still this,” James interrupted, holding up his vortex manipulator. “But it doesn't exactly solve that problem.”

 

“Love, out of curiosity, why is he still singing?” Rose asked, nodding toward the man singing to the mummy.

 

The man glanced at them nervously as he kept chanting, “Old God, rest your weary, holy head.”

 

“He's trying to sing the Old God back to sleep, but that's not going to happen. He's waking up, mate. He's coming, ready or not. You want to run,” the Doctor explained.  The man abruptly stopped and stood, looking at the intruders. “That's it, then. Song's over,” the Doctor concluded.

 

“The song is over. My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me,” he announced before pressing a button on his bracelet and teleporting away.

 

“That's it, then. Song's over,” the Doctor repeated.

 

Everyone flinched as the mummy in the glass case roared loudly and rose from the throne it had been placed upon.

 

“Ah ha! Look at that,” the Doctor shouted excitedly.

 

“Yeah, not exactly something to be happy about, love,” Rose said, clasping his hand as they watched the creature start to beat on the glass enclosure.

 

“You've woken him,” Merry cried fearfully.

 

“No, we didn't wake him. And you didn't wake him, either. He's waking because it's his time to wake, and feed. On you, apparently. On your stories,” the Doctor explained.

 

“She didn't say stories. She said souls,” Clara argued. She would be more than happy to tell it some stories if it would leave them alone, but wasn't too keen on handing over her soul.

 

“That's just it, Clara, don't you see? What makes you who you are? Your soul isn't physical, it's your thoughts, your memories. We are who we are because of our experiences,” James told his daughter.

 

“Exactly! The soul's made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us. People we love, people we lost. People we found again against all the odds. He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Granddad! Stop it. You're scaring her,” Clara argued.

 

“Good. She should be scared.”

 

“Doctor!” Rose gasped.

 

“She's sacrificing herself. She should know what that means. Do you know what it means, Merry?” he continued.

 

“A god chose me,” she told them, reciting what she had been taught her whole life.

 

“But, Merry, it's not a god. It'll feed on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god. It is a vampire, and you don't need to give yourself to it,” River insisted.

 

“Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story?” the Doctor said suddenly, kneeling down to look her in the eyes. “One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste.”

 

“So, if I don't, then everyone else-?” Merry asked.

 

“Will be just fine, sweetheart,” Rose assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

 

“How?” she wondered, tears gleaming in her wide eyes.

 

“There's always a way,” he assured her.

 

“You promise?” she pleaded, not willing to allow everyone else to die for her sake.

 

“Cross my hearts,” he told her, making an X over both hearts.

 

There was a rumbling noise from outside as the mummy began to crack through the glass imprisoning it.

 

“Sounds like company,” River warned, pointing her blaster at the mummy, but keeping watch around them for more.

 

“The Vigil,” Merry told them, clearly knowing what was coming for her.

 

“And what's the Vigil?” Rose prompted.

 

“If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon,” Merry began, gulping nervously.

 

“Yes?” James asked.

 

“It's their job to feed her to Grandfather,” she explained.

 

A cloud of black smoke formed in front of the door and three dark robots appeared. They stepped ominously toward Merry.

 

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry,” the little girl pleaded, backing away from them, but frighteningly toward the growling mummy.

 

“Stay back! I'm armed. With a screwdriver,” the Doctor told them.

 

“Go build a cabinet, I've got this,” River told him stepping in front of all of them in defence as she pointed her sonic blaster directly at the robots.

 

The lead robot in the Vigil lifted its hand to send an acoustic blast that knocked the gun from River’s hand. A second attack from all of them sent the whole family violently against the wall.

 

A quick telepathic discussion between the Doctor and Rose had them both using their sonics to block the attacks any further. But, they were all backed into a corner nonetheless.

 

“You know all the stories. You must know if there's another way out,” Clara urged Merry to help them.

 

“There's a tale. A secret song. The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door,” Merry told her as she tried to remember all of the stories she had learned.

 

“And the secret songs open the secret door? How does it go? Can you sing it?” Clara pleaded.

 

The Queen of Years sang a quick little melody and a smaller door slid open beside them.  Everyone rushed out of the pyramid, but the Vigil stopped advancing and disappeared.  As the mummy broke free of the glass enclosure, a bright light flashed toward the nearby sun.

 

“Where did they go?” Clara asked regarding the Vigil.

 

“Grandfather's awake. They're of no function any more,” the Doctor reasoned.

 

“Well, you could sound happier about it,” Clara told him as he still seemed quite worried about the situation.

 

“Actually, I think I may have made a bit of a tactical boo-boo. More of a semantics mix-up, really,” the Doctor admitted.

 

“What boo-boo?” Clara asked.

 

“The thing in the pyramid wasn't the god. It was there to awaken the Old God,” River explained as they all stared at the sun, which was becoming more and more active.

 

“That is a very big god,” Rose commented, taking her husband's hand and letting their bracelets click together.

 

“Oh, my stars. What do we do?” Clara asked her grandparents.

 

“Against that? I don't know. Do you know? I don't know. Any ideas?” he questioned his family.

 

“But you promised. You promised!” Merry argued.

 

“I did. I did promise,” the Doctor agreed, wracking his magnificent brain for a plan.

 

“He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars,” Merry told them, remembering the warnings she had been taught.

 

“I say leg it,” Clara suggested.

 

“Leg it where, exactly?” the Doctor asked frustratedly.

 

“Marbella in 1989?” Rose suggested.

 

The Doctor gaped for a moment as a thought came to him at the memory. “Rose Tyler, you are a genius.”

 

“Yeah, you'd better not be tricking me into leaving when you say that this time,” she responded.

 

He kissed her quickly and said, “Absolutely not. I need you for this. However, I do want you to get this young lady to safety,” he told Clara, entrusting her with taking Merry back where the audience was watching.

 

“But I want to help!” Clara argued.

 

“You are helping, sweetheart. We all have a role to play in this and yours is to keep her safe so that we can focus on that,” Rose told her. 

 

James attached the vortex manipulator to his daughter’s wrist and programmed it to return them to the exact spot that they left before teleporting to the pyramid.

 

“It's really big,” Clara commented, worrying about her family fighting the sun.

 

“I've seen bigger,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Really?” Clara gasped.

 

“Are you joking? It's massive,” he answered.

 

“And we will be fine. He has a plan,” Rose assured her, though she didn't know what his plan was yet, she could feel his confidence that this would work.

 

“Right then. Come on, Merry, put your hand right here,” Clara told her young charge before pressing the button that took them back to the amphitheatre.

 

The four people that were left, walked around the pyramid to face the angry sun god. There was now a fearsome face blazing in the surface, but they all linked hands to create a united front.

 

“Lordy,” the Doctor commented, steeling himself.

 

“Alright, love, what's the plan?” Rose asked.

 

“We’re going to tell him a story. Remember what we did with the Minotaur? We see all that is, all that was, and all that could be,” he explained.

 

“But I can't! I only see that as the Bad Wolf, I can't control it,” Rose insisted.

 

“I need you to try and call it, Rose. I have a lot of stories rattling around in my brain, but it might not be enough to choke this beast. I need you,” he admitted, not normally asking for help.

 

They could hear the people watching start to sing again behind them, the sentiment giving them hope.

 

“Ok. I'll try,” she replied and closed her eyes to focus inward, searching for the golden light of the power within her. There was a link, created by the TARDIS that connected Rose to the vortex. Time Lords could see aspects of it in timelines after gazing into the vortex, but Rose could channel all of it.

 

“Can you hear them? All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgement? All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves, sacrificed themselves, to you. Can you hear them singing? Oh, you like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So, come on, then. Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite, because I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things,” the Doctor said, addressing the monster before them.  The being reached out with tendrils of golden energy as it sapped away the psychic energy that the Doctor offered.

 

“I walked away from the last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on, then. Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!” he shouted angrily as the creature continued to feast.

 

As he had expected though, it wasn't enough and he was faltering. Rose could feel her husband calling out to her and her mind suddenly blazed in protection of her love.  Eyes glowing gold, the Bad Wolf howled angrily.

 

“You are no god. You are a gluttonous thing. Every story that ever was, is or could be. I see them all. Just try and take them,” she demanded as she held up her hand and blasted a beam of golden light straight into the heart of the sun.

 

Feeling the pull from the creature release him, the Doctor grasped Rose’s legs from where he had fallen and supported his wife’s battle against it. The face disappeared as a wave of golden energy flowed around the sun and released it from the hold of the being living within it.

 

“Infinity's too much, even for your appetite,” the Doctor commented finally.

 

Rose collapsed as the golden light faded from her eyes and fell unconscious. James ran to his mother's side to check her over with his sonic.  She seemed to be sleeping. 

 

“Will she be alright, dad?” he questioned worriedly.

 

“Yeah, her connection to the TARDIS will heal her. We were hoping she could learn to control it voluntarily, but it seems to still be triggered by danger to our family. Could you carry her back to the ship for me? I seem to be a bit out of sorts myself,” the Doctor requested.

 

“Of course. River, could you help dad?” Jamie asked as he picked up his mother.

 

James and River felt relieved that they had stayed with them, it might have been a long wait if the Doctor had had to wait until he and Rose were both recovered. And they were able to call Clara telepathically to return and pick them up. 

 

Returning to the TARDIS, Rose jolted awake rather suddenly, startling everyone. Clara and her parents urged the Doctor and Rose to visit Jackie. It had been too long, and while Jackie might not have had as long to think things over as Rose had, it was time to forgive and make the most of the time they had with her very human family.

 

Clara assured them that she would wait in the TARDIS to avoid crossing with her younger self, and they could go on another adventure when they were done.

 

It turned out that they landed at Torchwood only a month after Jack had insisted they take a break and they had hidden in Victorian London. It meant that, for the people in this timestream, Clara was only about a year old. She had been two months during the original fight between Jackie and Rose, but they kept visiting the others for a while. Then visits had only been with Jamie, River, and Clara, with the explicit instructions not to mention anything happening in visits with the others.

 

“Hey, you two!” Donna greeted them as they exited the TARDIS in the Torchwood hub. “Been a while.”

 

“You've no idea,” the Doctor told her with a knowing look passing between them.

 

“Alright. Let's get this over with,” Rose grumbled.

 

They were greeted happily by everyone at Torchwood before Pete insisted that they come back home with him to see Jackie. The Doctor kept a firm hold on her hand as they entered and the two Tyler women faced each other.  It had been years of running for Rose and about a year for Jackie, but it seemed to be enough that she regretted the way she reacted.

 

“Rose?” Jackie gasped upon seeing them.

 

“Mum,” she acknowledged.

 

“Oh, sweetheart, I'm sorry,” she cried and ran to hug her with tears running her mascara.

 

Rose stiffened for a moment when her mother crashed into her, but hugged her back without too much hesitation.  She knew it had been a shock to learn that her daughter was centuries older than her and would continue without aging, but it had hurt so much to have her own mother call her a thing, like some disgusting experiment gone wrong. That was over now. It was time for forgiveness.

 

“It's alright, mum. I know it was never something you were expecting,” Rose told her.

 

“Should know better with himself around. Always something barmy going on,” Jackie answered.

 

Both Rose and the Doctor rolled their eyes at how her apology still turned into another insult, but they let it go and tried to have a nice visit anyway. By the time they got back to the TARDIS, Jamie and River had left in their own ship, leaving the trio to travel on their own.

 

“How about Las Vegas?” the Doctor suggested.

 

“Sounds like fun!” Rose answered and Clara agreed.


	23. Cold War - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this one. It took me a bit to get my head going in one direction or another, but I've got a bit of a plan now. I'll be skipping a couple of episodes in this season, but my favourites will be there as I push toward the Day of the Doctor (which I've already half written).

Rose and Clara had changed into formal wear for their trip to Las Vegas.  The Doctor changed his bowtie and found some large, dark sunglasses.

 

“What year are we heading for, Doctor? We finally going to see Elvis after all?” Rose asked him.

 

“Perhaps.  Not at his best in the Vegas years, mind you, but we could do that,” he responded as they landed.  He dashed over to the doors, Rose and Clara following closely as he shouted, “Viva Las Vegas!”

 

They discovered quickly that they weren't where he had planned as a sudden jolt threw the time travellers out of the TARDIS and into a darkened control room, with water pouring around them and filling the floor.

 

“Stranger on the bridge!” someone shouted.

 

“Who the hell are you?” another demanded.

“Not Vegas, then,” Clara stated.

 

“Not unless they've changed the definition of desert,” Rose replied.

 

“No. No, this is much better,” the Doctor told them excitedly, prompting a giggle from his wife. Only he could find disaster more interesting than getting where he planned to go.

 

“A sinking submarine?” Clara questioned incredulously.

 

“A sinking Soviet submarine!” he corrected.

  
“Break out side arms. Restrain them!” an officer ordered.

  
“Four ten. Four twenty. Turbines still not responding!” one of the men announced as he fought with the controls.

  
“They've got to!”

 

The Doctor could see that they were in a rather desperate situation and used his sonic to help find a solution quickly. “Ah! Sideways momentum. You've still got sideways momentum!” he shouted.

  
“What?” an officer questioned.    
  


“Your propellers work independently of the main turbines. You can't stop her going down but you can manoeuvre the sub laterally. Do it!” the Doctor instructed.

  
“Get these people off the bridge now!” another man insisted.

  
“Just listen to him, for god's sake!” Clara shouted frustratedly.

 

“Geographical anomaly to starboard. Probably an underwater ridge,” the Doctor informed them.

  
“How do you know this?”

  
“Look, we have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it. Do it!” the Doctor shouted as the submarine came closer to sinking past this opportunity.

  
“Six hundred metres. Sir, six ten!” the officer reported fearfully.

  
“Or this thing is going to implode,” the Doctor continued as he faced off with the Captain.

  
“Lateral thrust to starboard, all propellers,” he ordered finally, the time travellers breathing a sigh of relief.

  
“Sir?” the officer questioned.

  
“Now!” he insisted.

  
“You're going to let this madman give the orders?” the other man argued.    
  


“Have you got a better idea?” Rose asked pointedly.

 

“Lateral thrust!” the captain repeated loudly.

 

“Aye, sir! Six sixty, six eighty,” the crewman responded and fired the propellers. They heard and felt the vibrations as the sub scraped against the rocks and settled before he reported, “Descent arrested at seven hundred metres.”

  
“It seems we owe you our lives, whoever you are,” the captain sighed in relief.

  
“I'll hold you to that. Might come in handy,” the Doctor replied. If their usual luck held true, they would probably need that kind of trust from them again. After all, the submarine was still stuck.

  
“Search them. Yes, I know there are women. Now search them!” the other officer demanded and a few crewmen carefully checked them for weapons. 

 

“Are we going to be okay?” Clara asked quietly. She didn't have the same level of telepathic connection with them as she did with her parents. She could feel that they were there, and some emotions, but not communicate without touching.

 

“Oh, yes,” her grandfather assured her.

  
“Is that a lie?” she questioned, trying to interpret just what she was feeling from him.

  
“Possibly. Very dangerous time, Clara. East and West standing on the brink of nuclear oblivion,” he admitted.

 

Rose stifled a giggle as the man searching her husband's pockets pulled out one of Clara's old Barbie dolls, then blushed the colour of her namesake when he also found a set of pink, furry handcuffs.

 

“Lots of itchy fingers on the button,” the Doctor continued, oblivious to their invasion of privacy.

  
“Isn't it always like that?” Clara asked.

  
“Sort of, but there are flash points and this is one. Hair, shoulder pads, nukes. It's the Eighties. Everything's bigger. I would like a receipt, please,” he told the man confiscating the contents of his pockets.

 

The crewmen handed the sonic screwdrivers found on both the Doctor and Rose to the Captain to inspect.   
  


“What are these things?” he demanded.

 

The Doctor was about to make some excuse for their screwdrivers when the sound of the TARDIS engines taking off made all three time travellers’ eyes go wide.

 

“What is she doing?!” Rose screeched.

 

“No! No, no, no, no, no, no. No, not now!” the Doctor called, pushing past the officers as he tried to reach his ship before it disappeared.

 

“Doctor, what did you do? She’s never left us before,” Rose questioned accusingly.

 

“I reset the HADS,” he admitted.

  
“The what?” Clara asked.

  
“The HADS. The Hostile Action Displacement System. If the Tardis comes under attack, it relocates,” he told them.

 

“Why would she think she was under attack now?” Rose wondered.

 

“It is us who are under attack.  I want these three confined immediately,” the officer who had been arguing with the Captain earlier demanded.

 

“Captain, we didn't attack of your ship out here. Now we need to get the pumps working to get her afloat,” the Doctor insisted to the man who trusted him a few moments ago.

  
“Yeah, we'll last till the rescue ship comes,” the Captain assured everyone.

  
“If it comes,” Rose argued.

  
“Oh, the sinking is just a coincidence, is it? Who are you?” the Captain accused the Doctor, glaring at him.

  
“All right, Captain, all right. You know what? Just this once, no dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth Ambassador. Doctor, Rose and Clara, time travellers,” the Doctor told him, earning an odd look from his wife. 

  
“Time travellers?” the Captain questioned disbelievingly.

  
“We arrived here out of thin air. You just saw it happen,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“I didn't,” the other officer argued.

  
“Your problem, mate, not mine,” the Doctor told him. “Listen. Captain, breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?”

  
“You're right. Maybe I can save a little oxygen by having the three of you shot!” he countered.

  
“What does it matter how we arrived? The important thing is to get... out,” Clara gasped as she stared at the creature breathing heavily behind her grandfather and grasping her grandmother’s hand fearfully.

  
“Exactly! Number one priority, not suffocating. Now, what sort of state is the sub in?” the Doctor asked, oblivious to what everyone was staring at.

  
“Doctor,” Rose said warningly.

  
“What about the radio? Can we send a-” he continued babbling.

  
“Grandad!” Clara shouted.

  
“What?” the Doctor responded.  He heard a hissing noise behind him and wondered at the worry that he felt from both Rose and Clara.  “What is that? Gas? Could be gas.”

 

He turned around to look at what the others were afraid of and was faced with a very tall, green, Ice Warrior.    
  


“Ah. It never rains but it pours,” the Doctor sighed.

  
“We were drilling for oil in the ice. I thought I'd found a mammoth,” one of the crew told them.

  
“It's not a mammoth,” the Doctor informed him.

  
“No,” the man agreed.

  
“It’s an Ice Warrior. Tharsisian caste judging from the uniform,” Clara told them.

  
“Very good, Clara! Exactly. A native of the planet Mars. And we go way back. Way back,” the Doctor added.

  
“A Martian? You can't be serious,” the Captain protested.

  
“I'm always serious. With days off,” the Doctor replied.

  
One of the officers raised his gun toward the alien threateningly, prompting the Ice Warrior to do the same.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, please. Wait, just. There is no need for this. Just hear me out. You're confused, disorientated. Of course you are. You've been lying dormant in the ice for, for, for how long? How long, Professor?” the Doctor asked the man who thought he had found a mammoth.

  
“By my reckoning, five thousand years,” he told them.

  
“Five thousand years? That's a hell of a nap. Can't blame you if you've got out of the wrong side of bed. Look, nobody here wants to hurt you,” the Doctor told the Ice Warrior as he pushed the human’s gun down.  “Please, just. Why don't you tell us your name?”

  
“What are you talking about? It has a name?” the Captain asked.

  
“Of course it has a name. And a rank. This is a soldier, a highly decorated one and he deserves our utmost respect!” Clara insisted.

  
“This is madness. That is a monster!” the Captain argued.

  
“Skaldak,” the Warrior growled.   
  


“Grand Marshal Skaldak,” Clara gasped, eyes wide with recognition of just who they were facing.

“Oh, no,” the Doctor mumbled.

 

Everyone jumped as electricity suddenly coursed over the surface of Skaldak’s armour. The Ice Warrior roared furiously before collapsing to the floor, unconscious.  Behind him stood an officer with a cattle prod.

 

“You idiot! You idiot. Grand Marshal Skaldak,” the Doctor cursed.

 

“And who’s he?” Rose wondered. 

  
“We are in big trouble. Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. Vanquisher of the Phobos Heresy. The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced,” Clara listed as she paced through the ankle deep water in the room.

  
“So what do we do now?” the Captain asked.

  
“Lock him up,” the Doctor ordered.   
  



	24. Cold War - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like the changes I made to this one. It was a short and straightforward adventure really, but establishes a few things. Let me know what you think!!

“Alright, granddad, we need a plan and I'm not sure locking him up is going to work out too well,” Clara told him.

 

“Granddad? But you two look the same age,” Captain Zhukov argued when they retired to his office to discuss their situation.

 

“We moisturize,” Rose told him and the Doctor snorted.

 

“The Ice Warriors have a different creed, Clara. A different code. By his own standards, Skaldak is a hero. It was said his enemies honoured him so much, they'd carve his name into their own flesh before they died,” the Doctor told her.

 

“You think I don't know this? I did a research project on the Ice Warriors when I was nine, why don't you-? Ugh, I haven't done it for you yet!” Clara growled.

 

“Right, have to remember that assignment,” the Doctor said.

 

“An Ice Warrior? Explain,” the Captain insisted, not entirely following their conversation.

  
“There isn't time,” the Doctor responded curtly.

 

“We make time if we want their help,” Clara argued. Turning to the Captain, she told them what the creature was and how best they could deal with him, “He is a Martian reptile known as an Ice Warrior. When Mars turned cold they had to adapt. They're bio-mechaniod. Cyborgs. Built themselves survival armour so they could exist in the freezing cold of their home world, but a sudden increase in temperature and the armour goes haywire. Like with the cattle prod thing.”

  
“Like with the cattle prod thing. Bit of a design flaw. To be honest, I've always wondered why they never sorted it. So, what's your plan for dealing with him, resident Ice Warrior expert?” the Doctor interrupted, trying to hurry her along.

 

“Oi! Doctor, that was amazing, you need to slow down. How dangerous are we talking here, sweetheart?” Rose asked her granddaughter.

 

“Most Ice Warriors? Dangerous enough. Grand Marshal Skaldak? We would have been fine until they attacked him,” Clara replied.   
  


The professor, who they learned was named Grisenko put his headphones on while continuing to listen to their discussion.

  
“Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain? These people are clearly enemy agents,” security officer Stepashin argued. “In my opinion, Comrade Captain, this creature is a Western weapon.”

  
“A weapon?” Captain Zhukov questioned.

  
“Survival suit. What is the alternative? The little green man from Mars?” Stepashin insisted.

  
“Correction. It's a big green man from Mars,” Professor Grisenko interjected, prompting a smirk from the time travellers.

  
“I don't appreciate your levity, Professor,” Stepashin said, glaring at him.

  
“Why does that not surprise me? Maybe they're telling the truth,” he suggested, not intimidated by the military man.

  
“The truth?”

  
“Yes, a revolutionary concept, I know,” the scientist responded.

  
The security officer scoffed at the suggestion and turned back to the Captain, demanding, “It's essential that we inform Moscow of what we have found.”

  
“The radio's out of action, in case you hadn't noticed, Stepashin,” the Captain replied, frustrated with all the arguing.

  
“They have our last position. They will find us. When they do…” the officer responded.

  
“Yes?” the Captain prompted.

  
“Well, the Cold War won't stay cold for ever, Captain,” Stepashin threatened.

 

“For God's sake, Stepashin, you're like a stuck record. We have other priorities right now. I want you back on repairs immediately. We need to keep this ship alive. Dismissed,” Captain Zhukov ordered.

  
“Sir?” Stepashin questioned.

  
“Dismissed, Stepashin.”

 

The security officer left in a huff, but would presumably follow the chain of command.  Everyone seemed to relax a little in his absence, but there was still plenty to worry about.    
  


“If we had honoured him and let Skaldak go, he'd have forgotten us. But they attacked him, declared war. Harm one of us and you harm us all. That's the ancient Martian code. Oh no,” Clara gasped when she heard the beeping noise coming from Professor Grisenko’s headphones.

 

“You hear that? Skaldak has sent out a distress call. He will bring down the fires of hell just for laying a glove on him,” the Doctor explained.

  
“Unless you talk to it?” Zhukov asked hopefully.

  
“I'm the only one who can,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“No, you're not. A soldier knows another soldier. I know you hate to think of yourself that way, granddad, but I'm the least threatening one here that also speaks ancient Martian,” Clara argued.

  
“You? No! No! No way. You're not going in there alone, Clara. Absolutely not. No, no. Never,” the Doctor told her in no uncertain terms.

 

“Doctor, listen to her. Her arguments make sense. Jamie was obsessed with the Ice Warriors when he was little, I'm sure he's made her even more of an expert on them than you,” Rose assured him.

 

“I know all of their protocols and rules. I can do this,” Clara stated confidently.

 

The Doctor nodded, hoping that his acquiescence wouldn't cost his young granddaughter another regeneration. He couldn't bear being the cause of it again.

 

“Right then, while I'm in there, you need to find a way to turn up the heating in here,” she said, squaring her shoulders for the task ahead.

  
##########

 

“Ready, Clara?” the Doctor asked through the headset she was given. It had a small camera, microphone, and headphones so that she could communicate with the others while locked in with the alien.

  
“Yeah,” she replied breathily as she approached. They had chained his armour securely to some metal shelving, but she knew he could escape from there easily.  It was a tactic to give them a false sense of security.

  
“Grand Marshal Skaldak,” she greeted him in his own language and performed the official salute. The humans would hear the words translated by the TARDIS, but it was important to Clara that he not have any sense that things were being translated to him. “Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. By the moons, I honour thee. Grand Marshal, I'm, we're sorry about this. It isn't what you deserve.”

 

She gasped as the lights went out around her.

 

“It's ok, Clara. Keep going,” the Doctor assured her.

 

She turned on the torch she had brought with her and continued to address the Grand Marshal, “You're a long way from home and five thousand years adrift in time. Please, let us help you. You are not our enemy.”

 

“And yet I am in chains,” Skaldak countered.

 

“They are afraid. Humans don’t know about life on other planets yet. They are terrified of you, as well they should be. Both you and I know that those chains won't stop you, but they feel safer,” Clara told him honestly.

 

“I was Fleet Commander of the Nix Tharsis. My daughter stood by me. It was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the Old Times. The Songs of the Red Snow. Five thousand years. Now my daughter will be dust. Only dust,” Skaldak said.

 

“I am sorry that you will not see your daughter again, Skaldak, but your people live on across the universe. We can take you to them. Just let us help you,” Clara assured him.

  
“I require no help.”

  
She noticed then, a strange emptiness behind the visor of the armour and approached it carefully.  Her advanced senses told her that the breathing she could hear was not coming from the armour at all, but somewhere else in the room.  She touched the helmet and it opened to reveal her suspicions to be true.

 

“Skaldak, they are no match for you. They didn't know what they were doing. Please, let us take you to your people,” Clara pleaded.

 

“It is time I learned the measure of my enemies. And what this vessel is capable of,” the Ice Warrior hissed from the darkness.

  
“No, Skaldak! This ship can't take you off of this planet,” Clara argued.

 

“Harm one of us and you harm us all. By the Moons, this I swear,” Skaldak threatened.

  
“Clara, get out of there. Get out!” the Doctor shouted to her desperately.

Back in the Captain’s office, where they had been monitoring the interactions, Captain Zhukov placed his pistol against the Doctor’s head.

  
“Now, I've never seen one do this before. Actually, I've never seen one out of its armour before,” he assured the man.

 

“But she said she knew the chains wouldn't hold it,” the Captain argued.

 

“Clearly, she has studied them more than I have. All the better that she is on our side. Where are we with the heating, love?” the Doctor asked Rose, hoping to change the topic to something more helpful and less bullet...ish.

  
“Won't it be more vulnerable out of its shell?” Professor Grisenko asked.

  
“No, it will be more dangerous,” Clara answered as she entered the room and looked over Rose’s shoulder at the heating systems.

 

The Doctor quickly embraced her in a tight hug. “Clara! I'm so glad you're safe.”

 

“Not safe yet, granddad,” she replied. “What have we got gran?”

 

“Two nuclear reactors, which are currently offline. I'd light a fire, but that would just burn up our oxygen instead. But we still have electricity to these systems from somewhere. So, what's the plan?” Rose reported.

 

“I could try to get the reactors back online,” the Doctor suggested.

 

“No. I locked the door behind me, but that won't hold him for long. Even outside of his armour, an Ice Warrior can rip a human to pieces. We need to get everyone together and protect ourselves,” Clara insisted. “Is there some kind of electric heating system?  We’re in the North Sea and we aren’t frozen to death yet,” she asked the Captain.

 

“This is as warm as it gets in here, especially on battery power,” he told her.

 

“Doctor? The signal. It's stopped,” the Professor interrupted.

  
“Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers. Now he's given up hope,” the Doctor sighed.

  
“Hope of what?” Captain Zhukov wondered.

  
“Being rescued. He thinks he's been abandoned. He's got nothing left to lose,” the Doctor replied.   
  
“But what can he do, stuck down here like the rest of us? How bad can it be?” he asked.

 

“You had to ask that?” Rose groaned. “We’re on a submarine stuffed to the gills with nuclear missiles and a suddenly angry and possibly suicidal alien on board.  How bad can it be?”    
  


“It couldn't be any worse,” the Doctor added.  Of course, some rocks tumbling outside broke through a hatch at that exact moment and the officers scrambled to stop the leak.  “Okay. Spoke too soon.”

 

“Captain, do you still have the devices you confiscated from our pockets?” Rose asked.

 

“Yes, what are they?” he asked as he pulled the two sonic screwdrivers from his pocket.

 

“Special tools.  He told you we were time travellers, yeah? That’s why they don’t look familiar.  From the future.  But we can use them to increase the heating in here and maybe fix a few things for you, if you don’t mind?” Rose told him, hoping that he would give them back their sonics safely.

 

He nodded and handed them to the Doctor, who kissed his wife quickly on the forehead while passing her sonic to her.

 

“We need to gather everyone in here while Rose and I raise the temperature to something Skaldak won’t like,” the Doctor told them.

 

“But you said that it was the armour that reacted to the heat.  If he’s not wearing it anymore, how will this help?” Professor Grisenko questioned.

 

“Oh, you are a smart one, aren’t you?” the Doctor commented.

 

“They are still very temperature sensitive.  Remember that I said they were lizards?  Even outside of their armour, they prefer it to be somewhat cold.  Heat makes them slow and sluggish, so at least he won’t physically attack us,” Clara assured them.

 

The crew were rounded up and brought together in the control room, including a reluctant officer Stepashin.  The Doctor and Rose boosted the heaters in such a way that wouldn’t drain the batteries any faster and everyone was starting to sweat slightly.

 

“Comrades, you know our situation. The reactor is drowned. We are totally reliant on battery power and our air is running out. Rescue is unlikely, but we still have a mission to fulfil. If the Doctor is right, then we are all that stands between this creature and the destruction of the world. Control of one missile is all he needs. We are expendable, comrades. Our world is not. I know I can rely on every one of you to do his duty without fail. That is all,” Captain Zhukov told his crew.

  
They all sat together in the control room and waited, either for rescue or death, they couldn't be sure. Rose and the Doctor kept watch of the entrances to the room, not wanting to be taken off guard.

 

“So, why have you got a cattle prod on a submarine?” Clara asked the professor.

  
“Polar bears,” he replied.

  
“Ah, right.”

  
“We run across them when we're drilling. Can be quite nasty, you know,” Grisenko told her.

  
“I'd swap one for an Ice Warrior any day. Cuddlier,” she joked, trying to ease the tension.

 

“Courage, my dear. I always sing a song.”

 

“What?” Clara asked, wondering just how that was supposed to help.

  
“To keep my spirits up,” he insisted.

 

“Yeah, that would work, if this was Pinocchio,” Clara grumbled.

 

“Oi, it sometimes helps to keep your spirits up. That's why the Doctor and I joke so much even when the world is ending sometimes,” Rose argued.

  
“That's the way. Do you know Hungry Like The Wolf?” he suggested.

  
“What?” Rose and the Doctor gasped at the same time.

  
“Duran Duran. One of my favourites. Come on,” Professor Grisenko encouraged them, prompting the rest of the crew to mumble grumpily.

 

“Gran? What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost,” Clara asked worriedly.

 

“It's, it's nothing, just… Why Hungry Like The Wolf? Why that song?” Rose asked him.

 

“Just a favourite of mine,” he answered confusedly.

 

“Nothing to worry about,” the Doctor insisted. “My wife just has a thing about wolves.”

 

A thing? That's what he wanted to call it? Of course, there was no sense in scaring any of them more than they already were. Maybe it was only a coincidence, Rose thought as she worried over a possible reappearance of the Bad Wolf. It was usually a force to save her family, but she still hadn't learned to control it at all. In her distracted state, Rose completely missed Skaldak’s approach before he wrapped his arm around her neck threateningly.

 

“Rose!” the Doctor cried at her shriek.

 

“No, please don't hurt her. Please!” Clara begged.

  
“You attacked me. Martian law decrees that the people of this planet are forfeit. I now have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this,” Skaldak hissed as Rose struggled to breathe in his grip.

 

“Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me,” the Doctor tried, but found he couldn't get through to him.

  
“My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge,” he insisted.

  
“There is something left for you, Skaldak. Mercy,” the Doctor told him.

  
“Mercy?” Skaldak sneered disgustedly.

  
The temperature was almost unbearable for the humans and had to be affecting Skaldak as well, but his grip around Rose’s neck was firm.  Clara hoped that it would mean he was at least slower than usual and was quite confident that he wouldn't be able to activate his armour remotely in the heat.

 

“For your revenge you want to destroy everyone on the planet? Where is the honour in condemning billions of innocents to death? Five thousand years ago Mars was the centre of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system. The people of Earth had only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time. They're still just frightened children, still primitive. Who are you to judge them?” the Doctor argued.

  
“I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law,” he insisted.

  
“The Doctor's right. Billions will die. Mothers, sons, fathers, daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter. You sang the songs,” she reminded him, hoping to encourage him to remember his own family.

  
“Of the Red Snows,” he continued.

 

Clara used grabbed the Doctor’s sonic and quickly programmed it with an updated signal for the Ice Warriors, just in case they didn’t recognize a signal from five thousand years ago.  She was surprised to find that she not only got an instant reply, but there was a ship already in orbit.  The submarine shifted slightly as a tractor beam lifted the vessel to the surface.  Skaldak released his grip on Rose’s neck and listened to the reply that Clara was receiving.

  
“What's going on?” Rose questioned.    
  


“My people live. They have come for me!” Skaldak gasped.

  
“We're rising. We're rising!” Zhukov cheered.

  
“We've surfaced. Your people have saved us,” the Doctor said.

  
“Saved me, not you,” he snarled.

 

“No, Skaldak.  They aren’t at war with the Earth.  Listen to them when you join them on their ship, please.  Ask them about James Tyler,” Clara insisted.

 

In a flash of light, Skaldak disappeared, and Clara knew that they had also transmatted his armour as well.

 

“Just what kind of mischief has my son been up to with the Ice Warriors?” the Doctor asked curiously.

 

“Ask him at the next family dinner.  I remember that story quite well,” she replied with a smirk.    
  


They climbed out of the top of the submarine and onto a nearby iceberg.  They assured their Russian friends that they would get their own lift home while they waited for their rescue ship.

 

“The TARDIS! Where's the TARDIS?” Clara demanded.

  
“As I said before it was the HADS. The Hostile Action Displacement System. If the TARDIS comes under attack, gunfire, time winds, the sea, it relocates,” the Doctor explained.

  
“And because she knew there was an Ice Warrior on board, she was worried that he might commandeer her and who knows what he’d do,” Rose reasoned.

  
“Haven't used it in donkey's years. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, never mind, it's bound to turn up somewhere,” he told them as he scanned for the ship with his sonic. “The TARDIS is at the pole.”

  
“Not far, then,” Clara said happily.

  
“The South pole,” the Doctor admitted.

 

“Suppose I’d better call your father, Clara,” Rose sighed and pulled out her mobile. “Jamie, dear, could we get a lift?”


	25. Hide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Sorry for the delay. Now that the kids are back in school and I'm done school, I should have more time on the computer to work on this story. I will be skipping a couple of episodes, but I really want to get to the Day of the Doctor stuff, I've been anxious for that part since I started all this. I changed this episode quite a bit, but I hope you like it.

The Doctor and Rose made a brief stop to visit their family on Earth, just in time for a party to celebrate Clara's ninth birthday. James had put off having her look into the time vortex, but the Doctor urged him to get it over with soon, as it would be easier for her to grow accustomed to her time senses when she was younger.  They also asked to hear Jamie's story about meeting the Ice Warriors.

 

Apparently, he and River had landed on ancient Mars before Clara was born and they had made quite an impression on them. James was given an honorary title among the Warriors and the legend of how he helped them through a near catastrophe was started.

 

Little Clara was enthralled by the tale and the Doctor suggested that she could do a research project on the aliens and present it to them on their next visit.

 

When the Doctor and Rose returned to their TARDIS later that evening, they found a much older Clara reading in the library.  She placed her bookmark and looked up at them as they joined her on the sofa.

 

“We brought some leftover cake. It's in the kitchen, though you've had some before. Your ninth birthday,” Rose told her with a wink.

 

“Could you explain the wolf thing? You were terrified, gran,” Clara asked her.

 

“I suppose. Your dad has heard the story a few times, from us and from Uncle Jack,” Rose agreed, settling in her husband's arms to tell the story.  “So, Uncle Jack, the Doctor and I were transmatted out of the TARDIS and onto this space station, orbiting the Earth. On it, were a bunch of reality game shows where, if you lost, you died.  Thing is, you didn't die right away, instead you were sent to the Daleks, and used to help recreate their army. Of course, guess where I ended up? So, after the Doctor rescued me from the Dalek ship, we didn't really have a way to destroy them all.”

 

“You didn't just run away though, right?” Clara questioned.

 

“Of course not,” the Doctor assured her. “I had started building a Delta wave, but if I used it to destroy the Daleks, it also would have killed everyone on Earth.  So, I sent Rose home in the TARDIS. She didn't know how to fly her and I thought she would be safe, even if we all died in the future.”

 

“What did you do?” Clara wondered.

 

“I opened the heart of the TARDIS. I looked into her and she looked into me. I absorbed the entire time vortex and took the ship back to save everyone. See, the whole time that I had been with the Doctor until then, we kept seeing the words Bad Wolf everywhere we went. We didn't know what it meant, but when he sent me home, I realized that it was a message telling me that I could get back. Looking into the TARDIS transformed me temporarily into the Bad Wolf. I spread the message through time, made Uncle Jack immortal, destroyed all of the Daleks, and connected myself forever to our wonderful ship. That connection is what keeps me young, so I can stay with the Doctor for the rest of his life,” Rose explained.

 

“The power has come back several times, when people we care about have been in danger. But Rose can't control it yet. She can't call on it consciously and doesn't remember what happened afterward. I have to believe that a power coming from Rose and the TARDIS can only be good, but the lack of control over it is terrifying to say the least,” the Doctor added.

 

“I suppose it would be,” Clara acknowledged quietly as she took in this new information about her family. “But the power of the heart of the TARDIS is enormous, you shouldn't have even survived it.”

 

“She wouldn't have, if I hadn't taken the power out of her once the Daleks had been destroyed. I absorbed it all from her and sent it back into the ship.  It killed me to do it of course, but at least I could regenerate,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Gran, you risked your life to save him, not even knowing what you would do when you got there. Then you gave up one of your regenerations to save her, granddad.  It's wonderful and tragic and completely mad all at once,” she realized.

 

“The Stuff of Legend,” the Doctor agreed and hugged his wife a little tighter.

 

“Now, I think we should all get some sleep before we go off on a new adventure tomorrow.  We're going ghost hunting,” Rose said as she got up from the sofa to head to bed.

 

A bit of research into interesting mysteries for them to explore had led them to Major Alec Palmer and Emma Grayling.  In 1974, Professor Palmer had bought a house that was considered haunted, with the express intention of exploring the mystery of the ghost.  There was extensive documentation about him and his ‘assistant’ Emma, who was an empathic psychic. The Doctor used the excuse of a government inspection to get them into the house and looking at their equipment.

 

It took some convincing, but eventually, the pair explained the details of their work.  The time travelers also quickly discovered that the pair of them were in love with each other and denying it awkwardly.  

 

“Would you care to have a look?” Palmer asked as he directed them to a bulletin board with photos pinned all over it. “Caliburn House is over four hundred years old, but she has been here much longer. The Caliburn Ghast. She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry and parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady, the Maiden in the Dark, the Witch of the Well.”

  
“Is she real? As in, actually real?” Clara questioned excitedly.

  
“Oh, she's real,” Palmer insisted.  “In the seventeenth century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that her presence was accompanied by a dreadful knocking, as if the Devil himself demanded entry. During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned Spam. The tins were found in 1965, bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes. Appeals to the Ghast. ‘For the love of God, stop screaming.’”

 

Looking at the pictures, Rose asked him, “How come she’s always in the exact same position?  In all these pictures, it’s like she’s frozen or something, yeah?”

  
“You’re right, gran. She never changes. The angle's different, the framing, but she's always in exactly the same position. Why is that?” Clara agreed, examining them more closely.

 

“Sorry, did you call her gran?” Emma interrupted.

  
“We don't know,” Palmer replied, ignoring the question of their relationships to each other. “She's an objective phenomenon, but objective recording equipment can't detect her.”

  
“Without the presence of a powerful psychic,” the Doctor added.

  
“Absolutely. Very well done,” he agreed.

  
“She knows I'm here. I can feel her calling out to me,” Emma told them, staring into the distance.

  
“What's she saying?” Clara wondered.

  
“Help me.”

  
Leaving the couple that wasn’t yet a couple to their work, the time travellers explored the house in search of the ghost.  The Doctor kept a firm hold on his wife’s hand as he carried a large candelabra with them to light the way through the dark corridors. They could each feel the other’s excitement over the mystery, despite a bit of fear in the face of meeting ghosts.  The last times they’d faced ghosts they had either been non-corporeal beings using natural gas to inhabit dead bodies, or camouflaged Cybermen invading the planet.

  
As they explored, they all had the feeling that they were being watched by something.  Nothing showed itself or attacked them, but there was a definite feeling of a presence following them through the various rooms.  The Doctor found a circular spot in the exact centre of the house that was colder than the air around it.  They weren’t sure what it meant, but he marked the area on the floor with a piece of chalk from his pocket.

  
There was a loud banging noise echoing through the house as the temperature in the entire house began to drop.  The candles the Doctor was carrying were blown out as the trio tried to figure out where the sound was coming from.   
  


“Okay, what is that?” Clara demanded nervously.

  
“It's a very loud noise. It's a very loud, very angry noise,” the Doctor told her.

  
“What's making it?” she asked her grandfather.

  
“I don't know. Are you making it?” he responded.

 

“Not getting any better with reassuring the children, love,” Rose told him.

  
“Granddad?” Clara prompted.

  
“Yes?”

  
“I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified,” she admitted.

  
“Yes?”

  
“But I'm still a grown-up,” she protested.

  
“Mainly, yes, and?” he asked, not sure what she was getting at.

  
“There's no need to actually hold my hand,” she insisted.

  
The Doctor looked at the hand he had clasped with his wife and the other that was still clutching the useless candelabra before answering, “Clara.”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“I'm not holding your hand,” he whispered.

 

“Oh my god!” Rose gasped and they all screamed as they ran back down the stairs to join the others.

  
As they all gathered together, looking around fearfully for the source of the noise or a drop in temperature, a black, oval disturbance, hovered in the air above them.  They couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but there was no doubt that it was related to what was going on.   
  


“Has this happened before?” the Doctor asked him.

  
“Never,” Palmer answered fearfully.

  
“Camera. Camera!” the Doctor demanded and began taking pictures of the phenomenon.

 

In all of the activity going on, Emma seemed to sense an intense psychic message and by the time the disturbance was gone, she was unconscious in Alec Palmer’s arms.  Rose looked at the wall by the staircase and grabbed the camera from her husband’s hands to take a picture of the words ‘Help me’ written in frost on the wallpaper.    
  
Rose and Clara stayed with Emma while she recovered from the events, while the Doctor went with Alec to develop the photographs.  The ladies tried to convince Emma that she should stop wasting time and admit her feelings to Professor Palmer, but she wasn’t convinced that he felt the same, despite their assurances.

 

Ultimately, the Doctor came back, urging Rose and Clara back to the TARDIS to do some more investigating about this ghost.  They assured the others that they’d be back.   
  


“So, where are we going?” Clara asked as the Doctor began typing coordinates into the console.

  
“Nowhere. We're staying right here. Right here, on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it,” he replied.

 

“You’re not going to break the professor’s camera are you?” Rose asked, noticing that he had borrowed it.

 

“Of course not,” he assured her.

  
“So,  _ when _ are we going?” Clara revised her question.

  
“Oh, that is good. That is top-notch.”

  
“And the answer is?” Clara prompted.

  
“We're going always,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Haven’t heard that one before,” Rose commented.

  
“We're going always?” Clara questioned, not quite following how that worked.

  
“Totally,” he insisted.

  
“That's not actually a sentence,” Clara argued as he dashed down the stairs to the room below the main console.

 

“For once, I’m not following either, sweetheart,” Rose agreed.

  
“Well, it's got a verb in it,” he called to them before coming back into view.  He held up the orange space suit that he had worn on Krop Tor, though Rose hoped he had a new helmet.  That one had been broken when he jumped to the bottom of the pit. “What do you think?”

  
“Colour's a bit boisterous,” Clara replied.

  
“I think it brings out my eyes,” he replied.  “What’s wrong, love?”

 

“Why exactly do you need that if we’re staying on Earth?” Rose asked, feeling uneasy about the trouble they had faced the last time he wore that suit.

  
“I told you, we’re going always.  If we go back far enough in Earth’s history, the environment isn’t always friendly to most life forms.  And you know what it’s like in a few billion years, after all, we were there. It’ll just be for a minute or two.  Promise,” he assured her.

 

He took the TARDIS as far back and forward as physically possible.  At various points, he went out and took photographs of the exact same spot, trying to catch images of the ghost throughout time.  The whole thing only took a few minutes and they were back to where they started at Caliburn House.

  
The Doctor made the photos from the camera into slides and projected them up onto the wall to explain what was really going on with the ghost.

  
“Right, done. That's it. Gather round, gather round. Roll up, roll up. The Ghost of Caliburn House. Never changing, trapped in a moment of fear and torment. But, what if she's not? What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here? What if a second to her was a hundred thousand years to us? And what if somebody has a magic box. A blue box, probably. What if said somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years?” he told them as he showed the pictures and they saw a young woman, running and glancing over her shoulder.    
  


“She's not a ghost. But she's definitely a lost soul. Her name is Hila Tacorian. She's a pioneer, a time traveller, or at least she will be in a few hundred years,” he told them, having recognized the young woman, who was, after all, one of the people his people watched out for. 

  
“Time travel's not possible. The paradoxes-” Professor Palmer argued.

  
“Resolve themselves, by and large,” the Doctor countered curtly.

  
“How long has she been alone?” Emma wondered.

  
“Well, time travel's a funny old thing. I mean, from her perspective, she crash landed three minutes ago,” he replied.

  
“Crash landed? Where?” Emma asked.

  
“She's in a pocket universe. A distorted echo of our own. They happen sometimes but never last for long,” he explained.  He tried to show them by blowing up a couple of balloons from his pockets.  “Our universe. Hila Tacorian's here, in a pocket universe. You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home, back to the land of the living.”

  
“But what's she running from?” Clara asked.

  
“Well, that's the best bit. We don't know yet. Shall we see?” the Doctor said as he flipped to the next slide.  In the photo, there was a creature coming out from behind a tree.    
  


“What is that?” Clara questioned, not recognizing the alien from her studies.

  
“I don't know. Still, not to worry,” the Doctor assured them.

 

“Wait a minute, Doctor.  Just want to go over all the facts for a moment because something isn’t adding up to me.  The cold spots and the portal thing are this pocket universe attaching to ours, yeah?” Rose asked.

 

“Yes. A way through from here to there,” he agreed.

 

“And something is chasing her there, got that part.  But what I don’t get is the feeling we had of being watched here, something taking Clara’s hand, and the banging noise.  How do those fit in with this?” she continued.

 

“Ah… Good points.  All of them.  Not quite sure yet, but working on them,” the Doctor acknowledged and gave his wife a quick kiss on the forehead for being more observant than he was, as usual.

  
“So, what do we do?” Emma asked, still wanting to help the girl whose loneliness and terror she had felt.

  
“Not we, you. You save Hila Tacorian because you are Emma Grayling. You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid. We need some sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus some Kendal Mint Cake,” the Doctor told her before tugging Rose and Clara back to the TARDIS with him to get their needed supplies.

  
“Can't you just, you know?” Clara asked as he piled rope and a couple of harnesses into her arms.

  
“What?” he asked distractedly.

  
“Fly the TARDIS into the parallel universe?” she clarified.

  
“Ah, it's not a parallel universe. It's a pocket universe. Plus, it is collapsing. I mean, the Tardis could get in there all right, but entropy would bleed her power sources, you see? Trap her there until the entire universe decayed back into the quantum foam. Which would take about three minutes, give or take, you know,” he explained.

 

“Not enough time to find her and get out of there,” Rose agreed.

 

After creating several timey-whimey type gadgets and a headpiece holding the crystal from Metebelis Three, they were ready.  Rose and the Doctor refused to be separated, despite assurances that they would definitely make it back.  So, both of them were attached to the rope with harnesses and as soon as the portal into the pocket universe appeared, they jumped through.  They found themselves in a misty forest and agreed that Rose would stay attached to the rope while the Doctor went in search of Hila.  It wouldn’t do them any good to lose their path back when they had so little time to find her.

 

He came back fairly quickly and hooked Hila to his harness.   
  


“Grab the rope. Give it three tugs, quick as you like,” he instructed.

  
“What about you two?” Hila asked worriedly.

 

“We’ll follow you with the other rope.  Best not risk all of us going at once,” the Doctor told her.

 

Hila tugged on the rope and was pulled back into their universe.  Rose watched as her husband looked around the forest, searching presumably for the creature.

 

“We could have gone with her, couldn’t we?” Rose guessed.

 

“Course we could.  But something about what you said before isn’t quite sitting right with me.  What is this creature? What was the knocking? What took Clara’s hand?” he rambled.

 

“The rope is pulling, love.  Grab onto me, please,” she urged.

 

“Yes.  Time differential.  Will give me a little longer to figure this out,” he agreed, though not sure how he would get back if need be.

  
The couple fell onto the floor as they were pulled through the portal, their minds still racing about the pieces that didn’t fit.  Emma was breathing heavily from the ordeal, nearly passing out. Hila was staring at all of them in awe of what just happened.

 

“Hang on, love.  We are missing the obvious here, and for us to miss this, of all people, is ridiculous.  There’s two of them. One there. One here. This is their Canary Wharf!” Rose realized.

 

“What? Of course! It only makes sense.  That’s why the other one is staying right here.  Looking for that crack to get him back here!  You are brilliant! And we need the TARDIS this time,” he shouted, jumping up from the floor and taking her hand to run back to their time ship.

 

“Granddad! Are you coming back?” Clara shouted after them, but decided that she could always call her parents to pick her up if they weren’t back soon.

 

“Did you say granddad? But you look the same age?” Professor Palmer asked her.

  
It was only a few minutes later, that the TARDIS returned from its dangerous trip into the collapsing pocket universe, but the creature that had been trapped there with Hila, was now back with its partner in the house.   
  
The Doctor and Rose exited the TARDIS to join the others outside.  Emma was hugging Hila goodbye, Clara watching happily.

  
“Where will you go?” Emma asked her.

  
“He can't take me home. History says I went missing,” Hila told her.

  
“But he can change history,” Emma argued.

  
“No, no, no, I can't, actually. There are fixed points in time, you see-” he began but Rose put her hand over his mouth when she saw the others’ eyes glaze over slightly at the beginning of his babble.    
  


“I knew you were there. I could feel you,” Hila told Emma.

  
“I know.”

  
“Have we?” Hila wondered, looking at the other woman confusedly.

  
“We can't have. You haven't even been born yet,” Emma reasoned.

  
“No, you can't have met but she can be your great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. Yours too, of course,” the Doctor interrupted and gestured between Emma and Alec.  Both of their eyes widened at the statement. “But you guessed that already, didn't you? Oh. Apparently not,” he realized.

  
“The paradoxes-” Professor Palmer began, but was again interrupted.

  
“Resolve themselves, by and large. That's why the psychic link was so powerful. Blood calling to blood, out of time. Not everything ends. Not love. Not always,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“Doctor, what about, what about us? Emma and me?” he asked.

  
“What about you?” the Doctor wondered.

  
“Well, what's supposed to happen? I mean, what do we do now?”

  
“Hold hands,” the Doctor insisted, taking his wife’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “That's what you're meant to do. Keep doing that and don't let go. That's the secret.”

  
“Granddad? What did you two mean about Canary Wharf?” Clara asked.

 

“A long time ago, before your dad was even born, I was trapped in a parallel universe,” Rose told her.  “A battle with Daleks and Cybermen, involving a rift between the two universes, ended with me trapped on the wrong side.  It was nearly three years for the Doctor, but about ten months for your dad and me. I never gave up finding a way back, and we made it.”

 

“And we have a similar story here. It's the oldest story in the universe, this one or any other. Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events. War, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the hex, or he's thrown into it. Since then they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions. This wasn’t a ghost story, it's a love story!” the Doctor continued.

 

“But the monsters?” Clara asked.

  
“How do sharks make babies?”

  
“Carefully?” Clara guessed.

  
“No, no, no. Happily!” he corrected her.

  
“Sharks don't actually smile. They're just, well, they've got lots and lots of teeth. They're quite eaty,” she argued.

 

“But Clara, they don’t hurt each other,” Rose insisted.

  
“Exactly. But birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Every lonely monster needs a companion,” he concluded, hugging his wife from behind.    
  


“You’re not a monster, my love.  Let’s find another adventure,” Rose responded, taking Clara’s hand to lead her back to the TARDIS.


	26. Nightmare in Silver - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, fairly important changes in this one. I hope you like it. I wasn't sure if I'd do this story arc, but my beta insisted that I had to do something with the Mr Clever bit.

The Doctor and Rose were having a marvellous time showing Clara the wonders of the universe.  So marvellous, in fact, that they had nearly forgotten how frustrated they had been about their difficulties in becoming pregnant again themselves.  There was a little bit of guilt at the fact that they were the ones showing her all of this while her parents had been forced to keep her fairly contained during her childhood.  For that reason, they decided to join up with James and River, with a younger Clara to take her on a little family trip.

 

The version of Clara that was currently travelling with them, was happy to take a day off after their run in with a salvage ship that nearly destroyed the TARDIS and when they mentioned where they planned to go with her and her parents, she smirked at them and strolled into the library to relax.  They took that as a sign that the trip was going to be interesting to say the least.

 

After sending a message to Jamie, the Doctor parked his TARDIS in the Torchwood hub.  Clara had already told them that she didn’t ever travel in her grandparents’ TARDIS, so they would have to take the younger one.  James and River didn’t mind at all and assured them that with the four adults looking after her, Clara should be perfectly safe.

 

Since they materialized in the middle of a simulation ride that was made to look like the moon, the young TARDIS took on the shape of a small, colourful rocket ship that was more suited to a cartoon than real life.  The Doctor threw the doors open and bounced out with a ten year old Clara swinging in his arms, giggling.  Her blonde curls bounced in her pony tails as she looked around excitedly.

 

**“** Well, here we are. Hedgewick's World. The biggest and best amusement park there will ever be, and we've got a golden ticket. Eh? Eh? Fun,” he told her as he poked her in the side.

 

Clara giggled at his tickling. “It doesn’t look like a park.  It looks like the moon.”

 

“It's not the moon,” he insisted.

 

“Are you sure about that, sweetie? It certainly looks like the moon… ish,” River questioned as she looked around.

 

“Hey. Guys. It's not the moon, okay? It's a Spacey Zoomer ride, or it was,” he admitted taking in the lack of maintenance around them.  Did he get them here too late?

 

“Maybe they just shut down this ride.  Let’s take a look around and see if the other rides are running,” Rose suggested.

 

One of the large rocks nearby opened to reveal the exit as a man poked his head inside.

 

“Psst. Excuse me. I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?” the man whispered.

 

“Afraid not,” Clara told him, shaking her head.

 

“They were meant to be here six months ago. Well, that's Dave for you, see? Unreliable,” he grumbled.

 

They were all quickly surrounded by a group of soldiers, pointing their guns threateningly.  Rose, Jamie and River all stepped in front of the Doctor who was holding Clara protectively in his arms. The man they had been speaking with quickly ducked back through the hidden door.

 

“Stay where you are! Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves,” the woman in charge demanded.

 

“No. No weapons. Golden ticket. Spacey Zoomer. Free ice cream?” the Doctor called back, holding up the ticket as proof of their intentions.

 

“Who are you? This planet is closed, by Imperial order,” she informed them.

 

“Oh, well let me just get our papers for you,” Rose interrupted, pulling the psychic paper from her pocket to give them some kind of believable excuse to be there.  Something was terribly wrong if an amusement park planet had been taken over by the military.

 

“Oh. Welcome, Proconsul. I wish they'd told us you were coming. Any news of the Emperor?” she acknowledged after seeing whatever she expected to see on the paper.  They were apparently government officials of some kind.

 

“Oh, the Emperor. No, no. None that you'd er-” the Doctor rambled.

 

“We pray for his return. If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service,” she told the Doctor.

 

“Right. Righty-o. Well, carry on, Captain,” he agreed.

 

“Platoon, let's move out! On the double. Two, three, four. Two, three, four. Two, three, four,” she ordered and the group marched away.

 

“Have they gone?” the family heard and turned to find the man from earlier peeking back through the hidden door.

 

“Yes. Why did you hide?” James asked him.

 

“Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies. Come on. They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it,” he replied and urged them through the door.

 

The room they entered showed a view of the entire amusement park, though it was obviously closed down and fallen into disrepair.  Plants had broken through the pavement in various places and several of the rides in the distance were falling apart.

 

“Ha, ha! You see? I told you it was amazing. Well, it used to be,” the Doctor told them.

 

“Wish we could have come here when it was working,” Clara mumbled.

 

“We will, precious.  We’ll go further back next time and see it all brand new,” James whispered to his daughter, still clinging to the Doctor’s neck.

 

“For now, the TARDIS always takes us where we need to go, and that means someone here needs us,” Rose added with a wink.

 

The man told them that his name was Webley.  He had a little side show type museum set up of things collected from all over the place.  The family looked around at the various items and Clara was drawn towards a large figure covered in a bright cloth.  It was seated at a table where a chess board was set up.

 

“Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity. We defeated them all a thousand years ago, but now he's back, to destroy you. Behold, the enemy!” Webley announced dramatically as he pulled the cloth off of the figure and a tarnished looking cyberman raised its head.

 

“Cyberman! Get down!” the Doctor shouted.  Rose screamed and River drew a blaster from her pocket as Jamie pulled Clara into his arms.

 

“No need to panic, my young friends. We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle. The six hundred and ninety ninth wonder of the universe, as displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you at chess,” the man assured them, opening the head to show them that it was in fact empty.

 

The Doctor and Jamie immediately began to scan the shell with their sonics to be sure, but it seemed to be safe.

 

“Careful now. An empty shell, and yet it moves. How?” the man challenged.

 

“There are lots of possibilities,” Clara replied.

 

“That might well be, young lady, but a single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess,” he told her.

 

“You sure you want to challenge her to a game of chess?” James asked, knowing full well that his daughter was a master at the game.

 

Clara smirked and reached deep into her transdimensional pocket for a penny that would be acceptable in this time period.  She sat on the chair opposite the Cyberman and placed the penny in the middle of the chessboard.  It was immediately snatched up by Webley and she made the first move.  The game was far too easy for her, which gave her ample opportunity to study the machine as she played.

 

“Bravo, Clara!” Rose cheered as they all watched her tip over the opponent’s king.

 

“If you can tell me how it works, I'll give you a silver penny,” Webley told her, handing over her prize.

 

“Easy,” she replied, getting up from the chair to move around the other side. “Pretty low tech, really. It's a puppet. Monofilament strings, which means the brains are in…” Clara reasoned, opening a little door in the chair to reveal a small man holding a control box.

 

“Hello,” the man greeted her sheepishly.

 

“Hello,” Clara replied.

 

Her parents came around to look at Clara’s new friend.  He was very short and looked like he was wearing old fashioned pilot gear of brown leather and cotton.

 

“I'm the brains and you, young lady, are very good at chess,” he told her with a proud smile. “Give us a hand.”

 

James, River and Clara all reached to help him out of the cramped space beneath the shell of the Cyberman.  He stretched a bit once he was out and nodded to the others.

 

“They call me Porridge. Oh, it's good to be out of that box,” he sighed.

 

“For you, Miss, an Imperial penny,” Webley said, using slight of hand to produce it from behind her ear.

 

Clara giggled and put it into her pocket with her other change from various planets.  The Doctor noticed a small swarm of tiny silver bugs scurrying across the floor, but didn’t say anything to alert anyone else.  Rose however, felt his sudden worry.

 

_ “Trouble, love?” _ she asked privately.

 

_ “Possibly, not sure just yet, but keep ‘em peeled, Lewis,” _ he replied.

 

_ “Got it, Sarge,” _ she answered.  She knew, of course, that when they didn’t land at the right time there would be trouble for them to fix.  It was always the way, but she had hoped, for Clara’s sake, that it would be something minor.  Clara had looked into the Vortex already, so it wouldn’t be a paradox if she regenerated now, but it would complicate matters since she looked very much like this version of herself when they met her in Victorian London.

 

“I have not one but three Cybermen in my collection,” Webley told them as he turned on the display lights over his exhibit.  The sign over the empty shells read, The Great Enemy, and the Doctor quickly scanned them to make sure they were offline.

 

Clara approached a tall waxwork figure and studied the face carefully.  It seemed to look a lot like her new friend in many ways.

 

“Is that the King?” she questioned, looking to her mother.

 

“Emperor. Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the forty first. Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space,” Porridge told her, not seeming particularly impressed by the titles.

 

“He looks a bit full of himself,” she commented.

 

“Don't say things like that about the Imperial family. You can end up on the run for the rest of your life,” he warned.

 

“Never stopped us before,” River joked.

 

“Do you want to ride the Spacey Zoomer? I can operate the gravity console,” Porridge asked Clara.

 

“Can I, mum?”

 

“Of course, sweetheart,” River told her with a smile.

 

“Come on, gran! You can ride it too!” Clara shouted as she dragged Rose along with her.

 

“Alright, dad, what is it? Something caught your eye,” Jamie asked quietly.

 

“A small swarm of silver insects.  Add that to dormant Cybermen and a platoon of soldiers in a theme park and I’d say my interest is piqued.  How about you?” he admitted.

 

“What about Clara?  We’re supposed to be keeping her safe because of that time loop, right?” River questioned worriedly.

 

“Well, when we mentioned to her where we were planning to go, future Clara seemed a bit amused, so I’m guessing that she remembers this trip and I doubt she would react that way to us running away.  Add to that, what lessons do we want her to learn about our lives and our travels?  We don’t run and hide.  We don’t leave people in danger.  Let’s just make sure that she stays with at least one of us at all times, yeah?” the Doctor told them.

 

“That was amazing!” Clara squealed. “Thanks for riding with me, gran.”

 

“Anytime, sweetheart.  I love rides,” Rose answered as they ran back to the rest of their family.

 

“Would you like to go for a walk with me, love?” James asked his daughter. “Time to go exploring.”

 

“Really! Absolutely,” she cheered and they walked toward the door outside, hand in hand.

 

“We’re going to explore as well,” the Doctor announced, taking Rose’s hand to look for more of the bugs he had seen earlier.

 

River moved to sit by Porridge as he looked out of the nearby window toward the stars.

 

“This planet was renowned as the biggest amusement park in the universe,” River commented, trying to start some kind of conversation to learn about what might have happened here.

 

“Yeah. Hedgewick bought the planet cheap. It'd been trashed in the Cyberwars,” Porridge answered.

 

“They are a dangerous enemy to face,” she said.

 

“We couldn't win. Sometimes we fought to a draw, but then they'd upgrade themselves, fix their weaknesses and destroy us. It's hard to fight an enemy that uses your armies as spare parts.”

 

“Were you a soldier?” she asked him.  She knew exactly who he was, but wondered what story he would tell while he was here.

 

“Look up there. That corner of sky? What do you see?” he asked her, avoiding the question entirely.

 

“Nothing. It's just black. No stars, no nothing.”

 

“It use to be the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy. A million star systems, a hundred million worlds, a billion trillion people. It's not there any more. No more Tiberion Galaxy. No more Cybermen. It was effective,” he said sorrowfully.

 

“It's horrible,” River answered. She had read a lot about the Cyberwars in her studies.

 

“Yeah. I feel like a monster sometimes.”

 

“Why?” she asked, wondering if he would tell her the truth.

 

“Because instead of mourning a billion trillion dead people, I just feel sorry for the poor blighter who had to press the button and blow it all up,” he replied.

 

“Sometimes we all find ourselves in a situation where we have no choice but to do what is expected.  It isn’t fair, but for the sake of everyone else, we do what we must,” she assured him.

 

There had been so many times in her own past where she and James had been forced to live the lives that were placed in front of them.  Both fulfilling the roles in each other’s past until they finally broke through the loop.  Now they were free of the ties over their own lives, but their daughter was similarly bound to the future with the Doctor and Rose. At least this loop kept her safe until she had the adventures they were accustomed to as an adult.

 

“River, we need to go check on the others,” Rose called to her urgently.

 

*********************

 

James and Clara approached the group of soldiers, hoping to learn a bit more about why they were here.

 

“Well, you must have replacement parts,” the Captain insisted to the woman holding a communicator.

 

“Not enough to build a new one,” she replied.

 

“Captain, the weather controller is malfunctioning again. There's storms, heat waves, snow,” another officer reported.

 

“Ooh, that doesn't sound good. Maybe we can help fix a few things? We're very good at that,” James told them eagerly.

 

“Where are your friends?” the Captain asked dismissively.

 

“Family. My parents and my wife,” James corrected.

 

“Parents?! But they look?” she gasped and stared at the man in front of her in shock.

 

“Gran and granddad are exploring, like us, and mummy is talking to Porridge,” Clara told her, not quite understanding why the woman was so confused.

 

“She talks to her porridge?”

 

“No, that would be silly. Porridge. That little bloke?” Clara replied, earning a concerned glance from the Captain.

 

James took a moment to alert his parents,  _ “I don't think the soldiers know Porridge is here.” _

 

_ “Already on our way to you. We found some more bugs cannibalizing the computer systems,”  _ the Doctor replied.

 

“We need to have a chat,” the Captain insisted, dismissing her officers with a nod. “So, tell me about the little bloke.”

 

“He's my new friend. I played a game of chess with him earlier. Wasn't much of a challenge really, but not many people can beat me,” Clara told her.

 

“Clara, stay close to me alright?” James urged her when he felt his parents’ worry.

 

“Jamie, keep her safe!” Rose called as they dashed into the room, a Cyberman smashing through the wall after them.

 

“Cyberman!” the Captain shouted. “Attack formation.”

 

The fire fight between the lone Cyberman and the rather disorganized soldiers didn't last long. They were clearly no match for it and despite their best efforts, even the Doctor, Rose and River were unable to stop it from carrying off both Clara and James.

 

“Doctor, please tell me you have a plan,” River demanded as she tried to keep herself from running straight after her husband and child.

 

“That was a Cyberman. But they're extinct,” the Captain said disbelievingly.

 

“Listen to me, River. I will get them back. Captain, a word please. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it your platoon doesn't do much fighting,” the Doctor queried.

 

“What do you expect? We're a punishment platoon. It's why they sent us out here, so we can't get into trouble,” she told him.

 

“Right, right, well, okay. As Imperial Consul, I'm putting River in charge. River, stay alive until we get back, and don't let anyone blow up this planet,” the Doctor ordered, removing the Captain’s rank pin and attaching it to River’s jacket, then taking his wife's hand and tugging her off in the direction of the Cyberman.

 

“I'll be doing more than that, thank you. And I'd better see my husband and child safe and sound, Doctor!” River shouted after them, holding back tears.

 

“I'm not leaving here without them, River! No blowing up this planet, you lot!” Rose called back to them.

 

*************************

 

James and Clara came face to face with Webley, but there were various bits of metal attached to his skin, as if something mechanical was embedding itself inside him.

 

“What do you want?”James demanded, positioning himself in front of Clara.

 

“Please stand by. You will be upgraded,” he told them with a menacing grin.


	27. Nightmare in Silver - Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay... my muse insisted on writing this story arc as well as the next two all at once, which had me going back and forth and not seeming to get anywhere for a bit. But, it means the next parts should go fairly quickly once I get there.

Porridge revealed himself to River and the soldiers shortly after the Doctor and Rose had left to rescue the others.  The Captain looked slightly surprised when he appeared and River guessed that they hadn’t known he was on the planet and recognized who he really was.

 

“Cyberiad class weaponry. I've taken it out of storage,” the Captain reported, opening a case.

 

“Good. We need to find somewhere defensible. Where?” River acknowledged.

 

Looking at the tourist map of the park, the Captain made a few suggestions, “The beach, the Giant's Cauldron, Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle.”

 

“Real castle? Drawbridge? Moat?” River questioned.

 

“Yes, but comical.”

 

“I don’t care about the scenery. We'll go there.”

 

“Ma'am, my platoon can deal with one Cyberman, and there are protocols if we cannot immediately find and destroy it,” she argued.

 

“I saw how your platoon dealt with one Cyberman when it walked off with my husband and daughter, thank you very much.  You are not blowing up this planet. Is that clear?” River countered angrily.

 

“Respectfully, ma'am,” she tried to continue.

 

“Somewhere defensible. No blowing up the planet.”

 

“She's your commanding officer now, isn't she, Captain?” Porridge interjected.

 

“Yes. Sir,” the Captain replied.

 

“You really saw a Cyberman?” he asked.

 

“We really did,” the Captain answered.

 

“And we’re going to defeat it,” River insisted, taking a large gun from the crate and moving to inform the other soldiers of their new base of operations.

 

“Have you reported it to the Imperium?” Porridge asked the Captain.

 

“No communicators.”

 

“So you're going to do what she says,” he sighed. “Right, let's all spend the night at Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle.”

 

*************************************

 

“Jamie? Jamie! Clara?” the Doctor called to his son and granddaughter as they stared unseeingly forward.

 

“Oh my god, Doctor! Please, tell me you can fix this,” Rose cried, tears filling her eyes as she remembered there being no hope for the converted humans during the events of Canary Wharf and in the other universe.  She desperately grasped her son’s arms and shook him as she shouted, “Jamie!”

 

“Metal bugs.  Told you, Rose, you see?” he pointed out as he picked up one of the scurrying bits of metal.  He held it in front of his face as he addressed the enemy, “If anybody's watching this, those two are under my protection. I'm going to stop this. And secondly, I want to know how exactly you learned to cyberize Gallifreyan physiology.”

 

He used his sonic to deactivate the insect before tossing it aside. “Not even a Cybermat any more, eh? Cybermites.”

 

“You mean they couldn’t upgrade you before? They’ve adapted then,” Rose reasoned.

 

“Yes, which is very, very not good.  Now they don’t seem to be completely converted yet, so there might still be hope, my love.  Hold on,” the Doctor told her as he used his sonic to scan just how far the conversion had gone.

 

Just as he managed to get a twitch out of Jamie, an obviously converted Webley entered the room.  Rather than the hollow shell to encase him, it looked as though the machine parts were growing out of him from the inside.

 

“Webley,” the Doctor acknowledged him.

 

“We needed children, but the children had stopped coming. You brought us a child and we discovered so much more. Hail to you, the Doctor, saviour of the Cybermen!” Webley announced.   **“** As the battle raged between humanity and the Cyberiad, the Cyberplanners built a Valkyrie, to save critically damaged units and bring them here, and one by one, repair them.”

 

“The people who vanished from the amusement park, they were spare parts for repairs,” the Doctor realized.

 

“We've upgraded ourselves. The next model will be undefeatable,” Webley boasted.

 

“Nothing's undefeatable,” Rose argued.

 

“We needed children to build a new Cyberplanner. A child's brain, with its infinite potential, is perfect for our needs. But we no longer need the children. While the minds of those two will be magnificent, their thoughts are quite clear.  Your mind is far superior,” Webley threatened.

 

“How have you even managed to convert them at all, eh? Cybermen use human parts. We’re not human. You can't convert non-humans,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“Well, that was true a long time ago. But we've upgraded ourselves. Current Cyberunits use almost any living components,” he informed them and tossed a handful of the Cybermites at Rose and the Doctor.  

 

Rose felt unbearable pain.  Her own, her husband’s, even a glimpse of Jamie’s which had been cut off from her by the Cybermen.  But the unleashed power within her walled off her mind from the invasion, preventing the complete takeover of her consciousness.

 

The Doctor’s mental defenses were stronger than the Cybermen had anticipated.  While they had gained temporary control, there was a war being actively fought to take over completely.  Small, silver components broke through the skin of the Doctor and Rose as the Cybermites tried to assimilate them.

 

“Incorporated. Yes. Ah. Like the other two, unfamiliar pulmonary set-up. Nervous system hyperconductive. Remarkable brain processing speed. Ho, ho. Amazing,” the Cyber-Doctor announced as he analyzed himself.

 

“Get out of my head!” the real Doctor demanded angrily. “Stop rummaging in my mind.”

 

“Just you try and stop me,” the Cyber-Doctor responded haughtily.  “Now, why is the human female not completely integrated yet? Rose? Yes, oh, you’re hiding something about her in here.  What is it? You have some idea as to how she’s fighting us off.”

 

“Enough!” he shouted.

 

“Fascinating. A complete mental block. Highly effective,” the Cyber-Doctor acknowledged. “Relax, relax. If you just relax, you will find this a perfectly pleasant experience. You are being upgraded and incorporated into the Cyberiad as a Cyberplanner.”

 

“Get out of my head!” the Doctor growled.  Examining the interface that was being formed between his mind and the rest of the Cybermen, he tried to find some kind of weakness in their defenses. “What is this place, a network? A hive? You're getting signals from every Cyberman everywhere. How many of you are there?”

 

“Oh, this is brilliant. I'm so clever already, and now I'm a million times more clever. And what a brain. Not a human brain, not even slightly human. I mean, I'm going to have to completely rework the neural interface, but this is going to be the most efficient Cyberplanner. Not a great name, that, is it? I could call myself Mister Clever. So much raw data. Time Lords. There's information on the Time Lords in here. Oh, this is just dreamy.”

 

“Right, I'm allowing you access to memories on Time Lord regeneration,” the Doctor decided.

 

“Fantastic!” the Cyber-Doctor exclaimed as he accessed information about the Doctor’s past incarnations.

 

“I could regenerate right now. A big blast of regeneration energy, burn out any little Cyberwidgets in my brain, along with everything you're connected to. Don't want to. You use this me up, who knows what we'll get next? But I can,” he threatened.

 

“And what about your sweet little Rose? What would that kind of energy do to her and the others? Why can’t we access her and why are you so sure that we never will?”

 

“Leave her alone.  You don’t want to play with that,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“Hmm, interesting. Stalemate, then. One of us needs to control this head. We're too well-balanced. What did you say? No, no, no, no, no. I heard you. Rhetorical device to keep me thinking about it a bit more. We each control forty nine point eight eight one percent of this brain. Point two three eight of the brain is still in the balance. Whoever gets this gets the whole thing,” the Cyber-Doctor analyzed.

 

“Do you play chess?” the Doctor suggested.

 

“The rules of chess are in my memory banks. You're proposing we play chess to end the stalemate?”

 

“Winner takes all. Nobody can access that portion of the brain without winning the game. If I win, you release Rose, Jamie, Clara, me, and self-destruct all Cyberunits on this planet,” the Doctor proposed.

 

“You can't win,” the Cyber-Doctor told him, agreeing to the terms.

 

“Try me.”

 

“You understand, when I do win, the Cyberiad gets your brains and memories. All of it, including whatever it is you’re hiding about Rose.”

 

“When I win, you get out of my head, you let everyone go, and nobody dies. You got that? Nobody dies!” the Doctor demanded as he set up the game board and looked longingly at his wife.  She stood beside Jamie and Clara as they all stared blankly, but he could see the slight furrow in her brow that showed she was fighting.  He also noted the faint golden glow in her eyes that indicated just how she was managing to do that.  He only hoped that a surge from the Bad Wolf wouldn’t burn out the rest of them that were connected along with all of the Cybermen.  She couldn’t control it and he knew that her greatest fear was that the power would somehow end up destroying her family.

 

****************************************

 

River was beyond frustrated.  It was a constant argument with the Captain to keep her from imploding the planet.  She knew that the Empire would make no effort to rescue any of them if they found out there were Cybermen here.  They would destroy the planet and everything on it do avoid the risk of spreading the contamination.  But she trusted her family.  They had saved her, civilizations, the entire universe, hundreds of times and she wouldn’t doubt them now.

 

They had already lost one of the soldiers during their relocation to the castle, so she knew they were on their way.  They only had one actual Anti-Cyber Gun, but they had some hand-pulsers that would work at close range.  And of course, River had her blaster, just in case.  She confiscated the trigger for the planet imploding bomb, but the Captain could still activate it by voice command and there wasn’t any way to disable that particular function.

 

River ensured that they were all barricaded within the Castle and waited for some word from her family.  It was almost painful that she couldn’t mentally contact James or Clara, but that only bolstered her resolve that they would find a solution and get them all out of there safely.  After all, Clara had a future, they just had to make it through.

 

***************************************

 

“The rules of chess allow only a finite number of moves, and I can use other Cyberunits as remote processors. You cannot possibly win,” the Cyber-Doctor stated.

 

“I can. I know things you don't. For example, did you know very early versions of the Cyber operating system could be seriously scrambled by exposure to things, like gold, or cleaning fluid? And what's interesting is, you're still running some of that code,” the Doctor commented as he made another move on the board.

 

“Really. That's your secret weapon? Cleaning fluid?” the Cyber-Doctor scoffed.

 

**“** Nope, gold,” he replied and slapped the Golden Ticket for the park against the metal implants on his face.

 

The Cyberized portion of his mind shorted out instantly, but he could feel that it wouldn’t take long to restore itself.

 

“Doc-tor,” Rose stuttered with some difficulty.

 

“Rose!” he shouted and ran to her immediately. “Can you hear me? Are you there, love?”

 

“It hurts,” she gasped, tears falling from her eyes.

 

“I know.  You keep on fighting.  I’m going to fix this,” he insisted.

 

“I’m scared. What if I-?” she admitted.

 

“Don’t. Don’t even think it.  They don’t know what it is that’s keeping you from them and I’m going to fix this before anything goes too far.  You just keep that beautiful mind of yours away from them,” he told her. “Now, let’s get all of you back to River.  I’ll bring the chessboard.”

 

After memorizing the piece placement, he tossed the board into a bag and tugged his family with him toward the Castle.  He knew from his glimpse at the Cybermen’s network that the others had gathered there to defend themselves and was fairly sure that even if he could get them out of the minds of himself, Rose, Jamie, and Clara, the rest of their forces would probably still attack despite the agreement with the Cyber-Planner in his head.

 

**************************************

 

“You knew it was me. You both know who I really am,” Porridge sighed.

 

“I was in the Imperial Guard on Caspertine. Mostly just parades, but I had the honour to guard the old Emperor during the ice picnic,” the Captain admitted.

 

“When the snow bears came and danced for us. That was a day,” Porridge recalled with a sad smile. “You?”

 

“I'm an archeologist,” River replied with a shrug.

 

They both looked at her oddly, probably wondering how such recent history could be of interest to an archeologist, but let it go.

 

“We're a punishment platoon. We can't beat a Cyberman. The Imperium has to know what's happening,” the Captain argued, hoping that the Emperor would see things her way.

 

“Like you said, the communicators are out. The only way you can report this now is to activate the bomb.”

 

“Yes,” the Captain agreed.

 

“And I forbid you to do that,” he told her.

 

“Look, I understand the logic. I really do, especially with a group as persistent as the Cybermen. But you have to believe me when I tell you that the Doctor and Rose can and will fix this. It sounds ridiculous to you, I know, but they have faced Cybermen before and worse, still coming out alive on the other side,” River pleaded, hoping to persuade her not to activate the bomb.

 

“I was sent here because I didn't follow orders. I can make up for that,” the Captain muttered, not listening to anything River was saying.

 

“Put it down. Please, Captain,” River begged her, knowing that any orders she received today didn’t seem to make a difference to the orders she felt overrode everything else.

 

“I order you to put that down,” Porridge insisted.

 

“You ran away,” she snapped at him. “I will do what I was brought up to do. Live for the Empire, fight for the Empire, die for the Empire. This is Captain Alice Ferrin, Imperial ID one nine delta one three B. Activate.”

 

Just as the lights blinked to life on the device, the Captain was shot by one of the approaching Cybermen.  They had been so focussed on stopping her from activating the bomb that they hadn’t seen it approach.

 

“Cyberman! Get down!” Porridge shouted, pulling River below the parapet.

 

The rest of the soldiers came running at the sound of weapons fire, stopping to stare in shock at the body of the woman who had been their commanding officer for so long.

 

“Right. This position was supposed to be defendable. We're obviously not doing a very good job of that, so everyone will be taking a turn with the anti-cyber gun on watch.  In the meantime, Porridge and I will be discussing how we are going to deactivate this thing,” River ordered and dragged the former emperor away from the group.

 

“Look, I know you can turn this thing off again.”

 

“But then I'd have to reclaim the throne,” he protested, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others didn't hear.  It was clear that none of them knew who he was yet and he wanted to keep it that way.

 

“You were a good emperor. What are you hiding for?” River asked.

 

“I ordered the destruction of an entire galaxy! How can you even ask that?” Porridge snapped angrily.

 

“You had good reason for that,” she assured him.

 

“And if those reasons were good enough, then I should destroy this one for the sake of every other galaxy out there,” he countered.

 

“Alright, I understand your point, but trust me when I say that with the Doctor here, there is an alternative,” River insisted.

 

“Ma’am?” one of the soldiers called out. “The others are outside the drawbridge. Should we let them inside?”

 

River and Porridge moved to the main gate and allowed the Doctor to enter, with Rose, James, and Clara in tow.  There was clearly something wrong with all of them, but River would wait for an explanation.  She closed the entrance tightly again behind them.

 

“What's going on, Doctor? What's wrong with them?” River demanded.

 

“Hey, River, you haven't let them blow up the planet. Good job,” he deflected.

 

“Don't count on that yet, what is wrong with my husband and daughter?” she growled threateningly.

 

“Er, a bit of a good news, bad news, good news again thing going on. So, good news, I've kidnapped the Cyberplanner and right now I'm sort of in control,” he told her.

 

“Bad news?”

 

“Bad news, the Cyberplanner's in my head. And, different bad news, our family are, well, it's complicated.”

 

“Complicated how?”

 

“Complicated as in walking coma,” he admitted, hiding ineffectively behind the chessboard he was carrying.

 

“And you have a solution for this problem?”

 

“Hope so.”

 

“Other good news?” she asked, not feeling particularly confident in his clearly half-planned-out-plan.

 

“Well, in other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way, and the Cyberplanner's installing a patch for the gold thing. No, wait, that isn't good news, is it. Er, so, good news, I have a very good chance of winning my chess match,” he told her, starting to lose complete control over himself again.

 

“What?” River asked, following him as he ran off.  The rest of their family followed eerily, staring into the distance.

 

“I'll explain later. In a bit of a hurry. Get me to a table, and River, tie me up! Need hands free for chess. And immobilise me, quickly,” he insisted.

 

River followed his instructions with the promise of an explanation.  She knew from experience that if he asked her to do something like this urgently, there was a damn good reason for it.  Tying him tightly to a large chair in the throne room of the castle, River glanced worriedly at the others.

 

“Right, that's good. I won't be able to move, but hands free. Good,” the Doctor stated.

 

“You're playing chess with yourself?” River questioned.

 

“And winning,” he told her as he pulled the golden ticket off of his face and began to speak in an accent reminiscent of his leather clad incarnation. 

 

“Actually, he has no better than a twenty five percent chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning. Hello, flesh girl. Fantastic. I'm the Cyberplanner,” he rambled, glaring at River.

 

“Whatever you are, you need to release them all immediately,” River demanded.

“Afraid not. And I'm working the mouth now. Allons-y. Oh, you should see the state of these neurons. He's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete re-jigs,” the Cyberplanner announced.

 

“If the Doctor doesn’t stop you, then the Bad Wolf will,” River told him confidently.  She had seen the power Rose possessed save their family several times.

 

“Bad Wolf? Ooh, he’s worried we’ll find out about that.  Is that what’s hidden behind the block about Rose?  What is Bad Wolf?” he wondered as the Doctor’s hand scribbled on a nearby notepad the words, ‘hit me.’

 

River was more than happy to comply and slapped her father in law across the face sharply.

 

“Argh! Ow! Oh, that hurt. No, stop. Enough, Bit of pain, neural surge. Just what I needed. Thank you,” the Doctor responded.

 

“Chess game. What are the stakes?” she demanded.

 

“If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. But, if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us all anyway,” he replied honestly.


	28. Nightmare in Silver - Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. This one is a bit short, but the last one was longer than usual and this ties up this story arc. I've already started working on the next one, so it shouldn't be too long. Please review! :D

“That's not reassuring, Doctor.  I need my family back and why hasn’t Rose done something about this already?” River shouted.

 

“Stop.  I need them back too. And you need to stop telling them any more about Rose,” he insisted.

 

“Fine.  Just tell me that you can fix this,” River agreed.

 

“Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand by mode,” the Doctor tried to assure her.

 

“That is not fine!” River shouted.

 

“Listen, right now they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do,” he growled back at her.

 

“Which one of you said that?”

 

“Me. Cyberplanner. Mister Clever. Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish, and you have to die, pointlessly. Toodle-oo,” the Cyber-Doctor said with a dismissive wave.

 

River left the Doctor to his chess game and to ramble with himself while she got the soldiers ready to defend the castle from the incoming cyberarmy that was sure to be on the way.  They used a large power cable to electrify the moat, but the cybermen adapted quickly and it was up to River with her blaster and one of the soldiers with the Anti-Cyber gun to hit the ones that made it across.

 

“Porridge!” River shouted as she took out another robot.

 

“Yeah?” he asked.

 

“Take that bomb and keep yourself safe.  Understand?” she ordered.

 

“Got it,” he replied hefting the large box and finding somewhere to hide with it until the last second.  “Alice Ferrin, you should have destroyed this planet when you had the chance.”

 

*****************

 

“They're nearly here. Now, you can take my bishop and keep limping on for a little longer, or you can sacrifice your queen and get your son and granddaughter back. But it's mate in five moves, and I get your mind,” the Cyber-Doctor offered.

 

“Take my queen, and give me back my family,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Emotions. Can't you see what a foolish move that was? You've lost the game,” he cheered.

 

“Family back, now,” the Doctor insisted.

 

At that, James and Clara all blinked back to awareness of their surroundings.  James turned to hug his daughter tightly and mentally contacted his wife to let her know that he was alright and get a summary of events from her.  Rose was still staring into the distance, but her brow furrowed determinedly.

 

“Emotions, Doctor, for a family that will die at our hands anyway? What was the point?” the Cyber-Doctor goaded.

 

“Why are you keeping Rose? You released Jamie and Clara, why keep her?” the Doctor demanded.

 

“Because we can.  Because you want her back more than anything and there is something powerful about her,” the Cyber-Doctor replied.

 

“This ends now,” Rose announced, golden light shining from her eyes once more.

 

“No! Stop, please!” the Doctor called to the Bad Wolf.

 

“I must protect my pack,” she replied.

 

“I know that.  But the others are safe for now,” the Doctor told her.

 

“You are not safe, My Doctor,” she argued.

 

“Ooh, is this the power that has been fighting us. What is it exactly? What could this add to the power of the Cyberiad?” the Cyber-Doctor wondered.

 

“You will be destroyed. I will burn your network from within and dissolve every Cyberman into dust,” Bad Wolf announced. “This power cannot be taken from her and can only be used by her.”

 

“Bad Wolf, she is terrified of you.  Terrified that she will hurt her family because she cannot control the power herself.  Why can’t she control it?” the Doctor questioned, never having had the opportunity to converse with the Bad Wolf directly before.  Even talking with the TARDIS didn’t give them the information they needed about the changes that took place.

 

“Her mind is not yet ready to see all that is, all that was, and all that could be.  When it is, then she will have access to see these things coming and call upon me at will,” the Bad Wolf replied.

 

“Fascinating as this is, we have a game to finish,” the Cyber-Doctor interrupted.

 

During the exchange, the Doctor saw Clara run out of the room and back again.  He noted the item in her hand and nodded to Jamie in approval of his plan.

 

“Quite right.  Just give me a few minutes, my lovely goddess of time,” he told Bad Wolf with a wink.  Her eyes flashed brighter for a moment as she saw the timelines shift with his plan and she smirked. “Your move. But before you take it, just so you know, sacrificing my queen was the best possible move I could have made. The Time Lords invented chess. It's our game. And if you don't avoid my trap, it gives me mate in three moves.”

 

“How?” the Cyber-Doctor asked, examining the board thoroughly.

 

**“** Oh, come on. Call yourself a chess playing robot?” he teased, urging Clara to crawl beneath the table.

 

“How!” 

 

“You figure it out. Or don't you have the processing power, hmm?” the Doctor urged confidently.

 

Outside of the throne room, they heard the weapons fire stop. The sudden silence was deafening.

 

“What are you doing?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Doctor. Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. I'm pulling in extra processing power. Three million Cyberbrains are working on one tiny chess problem. How long do you think it's going to take us to solve it?” the Cyber-Doctor told him concentrating on how the Doctor could possibly win in three moves.

 

“That's cheating,” he accused, though it was exactly what he wanted. While the others were physically shut down, he could hear River and the soldiers easily destroying as many as they could manage.

 

“No, no, no, no, no. Just pulling in the local resources,” he countered. “There's no way you can get to mate in three moves.”

 

“Three moves. Want to know what they are?” the Doctor prompted.

 

“You're lying,” the Cyber-Doctor insisted.

 

“Move one, use sonic screwdriver to amplify pulser. Move two, activate pulser. Move three, hit the implants with the pulser, Clara. See you,” the Doctor announced and Clara jumped from beneath the table to apply the weapon to the metal bits on her granddad’s face.

 

“That's cheating!” the Cyber-Doctor protested before he was completely purged from the Doctor’s mind.

 

“Just taking advantage of the local resources. You were brilliant, my darling Clara! Could you untie me now, please?” the Doctor praised.

 

“Are you alright now, granddad?  Completely you again?” she asked.

 

“Completely me again, promise,” he assured her.

 

“Ok.  Can you fix gran too? What happened to the Cyberplanner?” she questioned as she untied the ropes holding him to the chair.

 

“Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen right now, and about to wake them all up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship. We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it. As for your gran, Bad Wolf, you are welcome to force them out of Rose.  We’ll take care of the rest,” the Doctor explained.

 

With a flash of golden light, Rose gasped back to consciousness.  Before she fell over, she was caught by the Doctor and James.  They both hugged her tightly and Clara crashed into them, hugging her around the waist.

 

“Next part of the plan,” he urged and pulled Rose by the hand back toward River and the Soldiers.  They found Porridge and the bomb near the others who were still firing on the twitching Cybermen.

 

“Okay, it has a fallback voice activation,” the Doctor said.

 

“The Captain, but she's dead,” one of the soldiers argued.

 

“Then we should ask Porridge,” Clara replied.

 

“Why?” Rose wondered.

 

“Well, he is the Emperor. I bet he knows the activation codes. Oh, come on. It's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller,” Clara explained.

 

“You are brilliant, sweetheart.  Come here,” River told her, opening her arms to her daughter for a hug.

 

“She's right,” Porridge admitted.

 

“So you can save us?” Rose asked him.

 

“We all die in the end. Does it matter how?” he grumbled. “I don't want to be Emperor. If I activate that bomb, it's all over.”

 

“And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy. Isn't that worth dying for?” the Doctor argued.

 

“Doctor-” Porridge began.

 

“Three million Cybermen!” he shouted as the robots started to come back online.

 

“The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say this is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the forty first, the Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator. And it's done,” he announced loudly and the activation lights on the bomb shone brightly.  “It'll blow in about eighty seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room.”

 

With a flash of bright white light, they were all transported up to the Imperial Flagship.  They could see from the large windows around them, that they were in orbit of the planet that was about to implode.

 

“Oh yeah. Nice ship. Bit big. Not blue enough. Listen, there is a little rocket-looking ship at coordinates six ultra nineteen P. I need it transmatted up here right away,” the Doctor told them, needing to save Jamie and River’s TARDIS before the bomb went off.

 

“Right. Did you get that?” the emperor agreed and the officer at a nearby console brought the little ship on board as well. “And that's that. Seventy six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine-”

 

Beneath them, the bomb activated, destroying the planet and all of the Cybermen along with it.

 

“Farewell, Cyberiad. You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely, or Emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do,” Porridge told them.

 

“Can't you run away again?” Clara suggested.

 

“They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor. Loneliest job in the universe,” he answered.

 

“You don't have to be lonely,” she told him. 

 

“Would you come back to visit me, Clara?  We could play chess,” Porridge requested.

 

“Sounds like a deal,” she agreed and ran over to give him a hug.

 

“We’ll make sure you can contact our TARDIS anytime, Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick,” James told him with a formal bow.

 

“Porridge is fine.  For my friends,” he responded with a friendly smile.

 

“We’d best be going for now,” Rose suggested and the time travellers all made their way back into the little rocket ship that was the young TARDIS.

 

James set up a communications channel between his ship and the Imperial Flagship so that they could keep in contact with their new friend to visit in the future.  It was nice for Clara to have a friend, and good for the emperor to have one too.

 

“Do we have to go back right away?” Clara asked.

 

“No, sweetheart,” Rose told her.  “We still have a Golden Ticket for the park.  Let’s just pick a better day to visit, yeah?”

 

“Sounds good to me, mum,” James agreed and set their coordinates for a month after the park originally opened.

 

The little family had a lovely time on that trip before returning to the other TARDIS and ending their visit for the time being.  Rose and the Doctor made their way to the library of their own TARDIS to find their older granddaughter.

 

“Have a nice time?” she asked innocently.

 

“You know we did,” the Doctor laughed.  “Care for a visit with your friend?”

 

“Nah, we keep in contact, but he’s a bit too busy for that just now.  Mum and dad took me back there quite a few times when I was younger.  Besides, he wouldn’t recognize me now,” she replied.

 

“I’m sure we could explain,” Rose assured her.

 

“It’s alright.  It’s been a long time for him and he has other friends as well as a wife to keep him company now,” Clara told them.  He had been a good friend to her when she was a child, but things were different now.  While it have just happened for the Doctor and Rose, it had been a long time ago for Clara.  “How about we go watch the Intergalactic Chess Tournament in 7541? I’ve been reading up on the champ from that year, sounds like a good one.”


	29. The Name of the Doctor - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I had to change quite a bit in this one, but I really hope you like it. A lot of thought and planning has gone into this story arc, all the way through to Time of the Doctor. I was going to wait until I had this arc finished before posting any of it, but I can't wait for your responses to it.

Clara closed the book she was reading in the library of her grandparents’ TARDIS when her mobile started ringing. There were very few people that had her number, so she knew it would be something important.

 

“Hello,” she chirped in greeting when she saw her parents’ name on the display.

 

“Clara, sweetheart, how are you?” her mother asked. 

 

“Good. The trips lately have been a little less dangerous again, but granddad is teaching me lots about different languages and cultures. How are you two?” she replied.

 

“Just fine. We need to pick you up for a little trip. Vastra, Jenny, and Strax said it was urgent and we needed to bring you along with us,” River informed her.

 

“Sure, mum. I'll be ready when you get here,” Clara replied, a bit worried about what might be wrong with their friends.  

 

She had lived with them for months before meeting her grandparents in the past. It had been a terrifying adventure, leading to her first regeneration, but it also marked the beginning of her travels through time and space properly, ending the boring years she spent stuck on Earth.

 

Her grandparents were nowhere to be found when she felt the arrival of the other TARDIS, so she left them a note on the console before joining her parents.  Jamie and River quickly embraced their daughter as soon as she got through the doors.  They missed having her around terribly, but knew that was something all parents went through as their children got older. Their own parents had gone through even worse with them. James had insisted on leaving the TARDIS shortly after looking into the vortex and River’s parents had unknowingly grown up with their daughter as their best friend, missing her infancy entirely.

 

“Are they in trouble?” Clara questioned.

 

“Not sure. They just said there was an important message and we needed to hear it in person to avoid anyone overhearing,” James answered, flicking the necessary controls that would take them to the home of their Victorian friends.

 

“So glad you could make it,” Vastra greeted the young family.

 

“Vastra, Jenny, Strax. It's so good to see you,” Clara squealed, hugging each of them tightly. Strax sneered slightly at the show of affection, but tolerated it.

 

“I've tea set up in the sitting room,” Jenny told them and everyone moved to sit together.

 

“Professor, Jamie. Help yourself to some tea,” Vastra invited.  “Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand.”

 

“That might be good, dear, yes,” Jenny agreed once everyone had their tea.

 

“Clarence DeMarco. Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life,” Vastra explained and showed them a scribbled note from the prisoner.

  
“Space time coordinates,” River realized and showed them to her husband.

  
“This, Mister DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret,” Vastra told them.

 

“What secret?  There aren’t many things he would keep from me and I’m certainly not familiar with wherever this is,” James responded.

  
“We don’t know,” Jenny admitted.

  
“So what else did this DeMarco tell you? He didn't just buy his life with some coordinates. How did he prove their value?” River questioned.

  
“One word, only. A word I've heard in connection with the Doctor before. Trenzalore,” Vastra answered.

 

“I’ve never heard-” James began, but River interrupted him, obviously having come across this name in her studies.

  
“How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?” she demanded.

  
“The Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered,” Vastra quoted the man exactly.

  
“You misunderstood,” River told them and James could feel her panic through their bond.

 

“What is it, mum? What misunderstanding?” Clara asked, worried by her mother’s sudden fear.

 

“Oh my god, it can’t be,” James gasped as he realized what his wife meant.

 

There was no more time for explanations however, as several fearsome looking creatures smashed through the windows and doors to surround them.   
  
“Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor,” the beings whispered loudly through sharp-toothed mouths on otherwise blank faces.

 

“What would you have us tell him?” James asked, gathering River and Clara behind him as he faced this threat.

  
The face of one of the creatures morphed into that of the deceased Dr. Simeon and he announced ominously, “His family is lost for ever more, unless he goes to Trenzalore.”

 

*******************************

 

The Doctor and Rose reentered their TARDIS with several bags of fish and chips.  They were laughing happily as the Doctor told his wife a story from his travels with Sarah Jane.

 

“Clara! We got some supper for you, dear,” Rose called out.

 

“She left us a note,” the Doctor told her as he pulled the yellow sticky note off of the console.  “Seems Jamie and River picked her up for a little trip somewhere.  Which means, you and I have the ship to ourselves, my love.”

 

The Doctor growled playfully as he pulled Rose into a fierce kiss, but they were interrupted by a knocking on the door. He looked at the door curiously before moving to open it.  Rose shrieked in surprise as a hypercube flew through the door, straight for her.  It stopped in midair right in front of her and hovered for a moment as the Doctor rushed to her side.  It was only a moment before the message played.

 

_ “Mum, dad, this isn’t going to be good.  River, Clara and I were visiting Vastra, Jenny and Strax when we were all taken by the Great Intelligence.  He demands that you go to Trenzalore or he will kill all of us.  The coordinates are programmed in the hypercube.  Not sure if you are aware of what is located there, but River discovered it in her studies. It’s the one place you told me that a time traveller can’t ever go,”  _ Jamie’s voice echoed through the console room, clearly distraught.

 

“Oh my god.  Doctor, what is it?  We have to help them,” Rose cried.

 

“Trenzalore. I've heard the name, of course. Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself. River would know, though. I told Jamie when he started travelling on his own, when you are a time traveller, there is one place you must never go. Your own grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried,” he explained.

 

“Ok, beyond the knowledge of your own future type thing, why is it so dangerous?” Rose wondered.

 

“As creatures of time, and that includes you now as well, what we leave behind in the universe isn’t just a physical body.  Our connections to the TARDIS and travels through the vortex leave a sort of scar on the universe.  Coming into contact with that would be catastrophic.  Even someone else touching it would cause terrible harm.  It would scatter them through my entire time stream and destroy them completely,” the Doctor told her as he accessed the cube for the coordinates and started setting course.

 

“We’ll have to be very careful then, obviously, but we have to save them,” Rose insisted.

 

“Of course we will.  That’s what we do, but I need you to understand just how dangerous this is.  We cannot allow anyone to come into contact with that scar.  I can only presume that yours would be there as well.  At least I hope so,” he agreed.  He never wanted them to be parted, the severing of their bond would be excruciating.  While he wouldn’t hope for her death, it would be the most merciful for them to die together.   
  


The TARDIS engines started and Rose helped her husband pilot the ship to the coordinates they were given.  It wasn’t long before the ship started to fight them on the destination, however.

 

“Why is the TARDIS so upset about this?” Rose asked.

 

“She's just figured out where we're going. She's against it. I'm about to cross my own timeline in the biggest way possible. The Tardis doesn't like it. She's fighting it. Hang on! Hang on!” he shouted as he moved to her side and wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders.  They were both thrown into the railing and while they were often tossed to the floor by the TARDIS when they started travelling together, flights had been significantly smoother in recent years.

  
“We’re still in space, orbiting the planet,” Rose told him as she looked at the monitor.

 

“She doesn't want to land. She's shut down,” he told her as he walked to the doors and opened them to take a look at the planet below.  “Okay, so that's where I end up.”

 

“Cheery,” Rose commented, looking over his shoulder to the dark, volcanic world beneath them.   
  


“Always thought maybe I'd retire. Take up watercolours or bee-keeping, or something. Apparently not,” the Doctor commented.

 

“We’d be bored within a day. Doesn’t us even knowing about this change things though?” Rose wondered.

 

“Possibly.  Time is constantly being rewritten,” the Doctor replied.

 

“So, how are we going to get the Old Girl down there, then?” Rose asked.   
  


“We’re going to fall.  She's turned off practically everything, except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off?” he answered.

 

Rose shut the doors and held tightly to the railing as he used his sonic on the controls and the ship began hurtling toward the planet.  They both started screaming but only felt a slight bump when the TARDIS actually hit the ground.  It was significantly harder for the Old Girl as one of the window panes in the door cracked.  That had never happened before, despite having fallen into the heart of a planet circling a black hole in the past.

 

“Oops,” the Doctor said as he silently promised his ship that he would fix that as soon as possible.

 

There was lightning streaking across the sky and everything around them was dark and ominous.  Hundreds of tombstones covered the landscape around them.

 

“Should we be worried about zombies or something?  This is straight out of a horror movie,” Rose commented, taking his arm.

 

They walked for a while before noticing a huge version of their TARDIS looming on the horizon.    
  


“It's a hell of a monument,” Rose breathed.

  
“It's the TARDIS,” he corrected.

 

“What, you mean it’s actually Her?” Rose questioned.

  
“When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger on the inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the TARDIS, I mean it actually is the TARDIS. Our TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?” he explained sullenly.

 

“I hope you’re right,” Rose said, breaking the silence of their rather morbid walk.

 

“About?”

 

“About my grave being here too.  I don’t want you to be here alone.  And I don’t want to keep going when you’re gone.  I don’t know how you ever managed so many centuries alone.  I mean I know you had friends sometimes, but Doctor, I could never stand even the few centuries I’ve lived if I didn’t have you with me,” she told him.

 

They stopped for a moment and just hugged each other in support.  Thinking about the death of either of them was terribly upsetting.

  
Their moment was shattered by the eerie sound of whispering all around them.  The couple looked up to see that they were surrounded by men in dark suits and top hats, but their faces were white and blank except for their frighteningly gruesome mouth.  Rose held the Doctor a little more tightly for a moment as they tried to figure out what to do.   
  


“This man must fall as all men must. The fate of all is always dust,” they chanted together and while it sounded like they were whispering, their voices were clear and loud enough to be heard even from a distance.

 

_ “Ok, should we be running from them or is facing them the best way to get to Jamie and the others?” _ Rose asked silently.

 

_ “My first instinct was to run, but you’re right that they’ll probably take us straight to the others if we go with them peacefully,” _ he agreed.

 

“The man who lies will lie no more when this man lies at Trenzalore,” the men continued their chant.

 

“Enough of that, thanks.  Take us to your leader,” the Doctor demanded.   
  
*********************************   
  


James, River, and Clara huddled together as their little group faced the impossibly alive Doctor Simeon.  Of course, it wasn’t really the man who had died in Victorian London after trying to take over the world with snowmen.  It was the Great Intelligence using his image to take corporeal form.  As they waited for the Doctor and Rose to arrive, he decided to taunt them with a few details about the demise of their beloved Doctor.

  
“It was a minor skirmish, by the Doctor's blood-soaked standards. Not exactly the Time War, but enough to finish him. In the end, it was too much for the old man and his pet,” he told them.

  
“Blood-soaked?” Jenny questioned.

  
“The Doctor has been many things, but never blood-soaked,” Vastra denied.

  
“Tell that to the leader of the Sycorax, or Solomon the trader, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day, and he will have other names before the end. The Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard,” the Great Intelligence argued.

 

“If you ever dare to call my mother anything less than the incredible goddess that she is again, you will truly discover what it means to be blood-soaked, and not just from my father, but from me as well,” James growled at the being that dared to call Rose Tyler the Doctor’s pet.

 

“Ah, yes.  The Doctor’s mongrel family.  You know, if the Time Lords were still alive, they would be disgusted by your very existence.  If they didn’t kill all of you outright, they would likely put all three of you on a dissection table to examine the travesty of your genomes,” the Great Intelligence countered.

  
“Even if any of this were true, which I take the liberty of doubting, how did you come by this information?” Vastra interrupted, stepping between Simeon and James’ family.

  
“I am information,” he told her.

  
“You were a mind without a body last time we met,” Jenny argued.

  
“And you were supposed to stay that way,” Vastra added.    
  


“Alas, I did,” he replied and proceeded to pull his face off of the body he inhabited.  The clothing crumpled to the ground and one of the nearby faceless creatures, suddenly stepped forward and took on his appearance again. “As you can see.”   
  


It was a matter of a few more minutes before the Doctor and Rose were escorted there by the faceless men.  Their arrival signalled the Great Intelligence to begin to outline his plan for them all.  They were standing outside of the enormous TARDIS, the doors before them apparently sealed.

  
“The doors require a key. The key is a word. And the word is the Doctor's,” Simeon told them.

  
“Here I am, late to my own funeral. Glad everyone could make it,” the Doctor announced.

  
“Open the door, Doctor. Speak, and open your tomb,” the Great Intelligence insisted.

  
“No.”

  
“Because you know what's in there?” Simeon asked.

  
“I will not open those doors,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to the two of you alone. The answer to a question,” the Great Intelligence continued.

  
“I will not open my tomb.”

  
“Doctor, what is your name?” he asked, but was met only by the glares of the Doctor and his wife. “The Doctor's friends. Stop their hearts.”

 

The creatures surrounding them stepped toward Vastra, Strax, and Jenny, hissing threateningly.    
  


“Madam, boy, combat formation. They are unarmed,” Strax instructed.

  
“So are we!” Jenny argued, ignoring his usual confusion over the fact that she was a girl.    
  


“Do not divulge our military secrets,” Strax warned.

  
“Stop this! Leave them alone,” Rose shouted.

  
“Your name, Doctor. Answer me,” the Great Intelligence insisted, refusing to call off the attack.

 

“I can’t!” he responded desperately.

 

“You don’t understand how it works. He physically can’t!” James added.

 

The creatures seemed to be barely corporeal.  Despite physical attacks from their victims, they simply reformed and continued their assault, reaching straight into their chests to grasp their hearts.

 

“My name is not something that I can say to anyone but my wife.  It’s a fact and I can’t change that, no matter what threats you put towards me, my friends, or my family,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Take the others as well,” Simeon ordered his minions.

 

With another hiss, they stepped toward James, River, and Clara.

 

“No!” Rose bellowed, the light of the Wolf shining in her eyes for a moment before the doors behind them opened with a creak.


	30. The Name of the Doctor - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last part of this story arc. It might be a little bit before I start posting Day of the Doctor, only because I want to have it completely finished (just in case details need to be adjusted as I get through it). I already have a good chunk of it done, but I'm about to go in a completely different direction than the original episode did and I have no idea where the characters are going to drag me off of my plan.

“Why did you open the door, madam? I had them on the run,” Strax complained as their attackers backed away.

 

“Rose, are you alright, love?” the Doctor asked, grasping her upper arms as he looked into her eyes.  They had changed back to brown from the golden light and she seemed a bit disoriented.

 

“What did I do?” she asked.

 

“You opened the TARDIS door, mum.  We’re all ok,” James assured her.

  
“I hate that I can’t control it,” Rose growled.

  
“I know. I'm sorry. But she has to know something that we don’t right now,” the Doctor assured her. “Now then, Doctor Simeon, or Mister G Intelligence, whatever I call you, do you know what's in there?”

  
“For me, peace at last. For you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?” he replied.

 

Everyone entered the console room.  It looked just like their current TARDIS except that there were plants growing from the corners and cracks, falling down around the room.  In the center, rather than the familiar time rotor, there was a bluish white, glowing column of energy.     
  


“What's that?” Clara asked, in awe.

  
“What were you expecting, a body? Bodies are boring. I've had loads of them. Nah, that's not what my tomb is for,” the Doctor answered, holding tightly to his wife’s hand.  He didn’t see any signs that she had died here with him.

  
“But what is the light?” Vastra wondered.

  
“It's beautiful,” Jenny added.

  
“Should I destroy it?” Strax questioned.

  
“Shut up, Strax,” Vastra snapped at him.

  
“Granddad, explain. What is that?” Clara insisted.

  
“The tracks of my tears,” he sighed.

  
“Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them,” the Great Intelligence demanded.

  
“Time travel is damage. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space from Gallifrey to Trenzalore,” he admitted.  Pointing his sonic at the sparking light, he activated it and they could hear overlapping voices from his many lives. “Even the ones that I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet.”

 

He wobbled a bit and leaned against Rose for support.

 

“Doctor! What is it? Why do I feel so strange?” Rose asked before they both collapsed on the floor.

 

“Dad!” Jamie yelled and ran to their side.  “Where’s mum’s? If that light is you, then where is mum?”

 

“I don’t- we shouldn’t be here. The paradoxes. It's very bad,” he told them with some difficulty. Doctor Simeon started walking toward the light with purpose. “No. No. No. What are you doing? Somebody stop him!” the Doctor shouted.

  
“The Doctor's life is a open wound. And an open wound can be entered,” he told them, revealing his plan.

  
“No, it would destroy you,” the Doctor argued.

  
“Not at all. It will kill me. It will destroy you. I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of you victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath,” he explained.

  
“It will burn you up. Once you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along my timeline like confetti,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life. Goodbye. Goodbye, Doctor,” Simeon announced and stepped even closer to the light, but was suddenly stopped by an energy field of golden light.

 

Rose screamed in pain as the light flashed and sparked. “No! I won’t let you hurt him!”

 

“Mum! What’s going on?” Jamie cried.

 

“She’s here too,” the Doctor gasped, tears glistening in his eyes as he looked at the golden light shielding his own.

 

“I will always protect my Doctor, even in death,” Rose whispered, her eyes glowing once more, the light trailing from her to the energy field and back again.

 

Doctor Simeon was writhing in agony as the golden light surrounded him and sparked dangerously.  “This isn’t right! It isn’t supposed to end like this,” he shouted before he and all of his creatures disintegrated into golden dust.   
  
The Doctor gasped and opened his eyes as the threat against him was destroyed, but Rose was lying still, and silent on the floor.  He reached over to touch her face, needing to make sure that she was alright.

 

“Is she alright, granddad?” Clara asked hopefully.

 

“She’ll be fine, but we need to get her back to our TARDIS.  Being here is hurting the both of us,” he responded.  He tried to lift Rose off of the ground but could barely stand up properly himself.

 

River moved to help the Doctor up, while Jamie picked up his mother to carry her home.  They walked slowly as the Doctor leaned against his daughter in law.

 

“Dad, if touching your timestream would have scattered him across your life, why didn’t that happen to mum?  It was her life force that was surrounding yours, right?” Jamie asked.

 

“I don’t know.  We’ve never completely understood the Bad Wolf and the power that she possesses.  Your mother did something no one has ever done and survived before.  She took the entire time vortex into her mind and connected to it in a way that we, for the moment, have no control over.  I am eternally grateful that it has given us the forever that we wanted so badly, but we may never really understand it,” he responded.

 

As they entered the TARDIS, Rose began to wake up and the Doctor was strong enough to walk on his own.  Jamie sat his mother on the nearest seat, her husband immediately taking a place next to her.

 

“Doctor? Jamie?” she mumbled as she took in her surroundings. “What happened? Are we safe?”

 

“Everyone is perfectly safe, my love.  You saved me again, or will save me as the case may be,” the Doctor told her.

 

“That was confusing.  You can explain later, just hold me right now,” she grumbled as she curled herself into his chest.

 

“Forever.  Jamie, let’s take our friends home, yeah?” the Doctor replied.

 

James, River, and Clara worked together to pilot the ship back to Vastra’s house, where their own TARDIS was waiting.

 

“Is it gone now? The Great Intelligence?” Jenny wondered.

 

“Yes,” Rose answered confidently. “Wait, why do I know that?”

 

“The Bad Wolf destroyed him completely.  We won’t have to worry about him again,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“But the Daleks-” Rose began, the Doctor stopping her with a finger over her lips.

 

“You were sure, Rose.  Just now, you knew the Great Intelligence was gone.  Trust that knowledge.  Rest now,” he insisted, holding her head against his chest.

 

When they arrived back in Victorian London, Vastra, Strax, and Jenny returned home.  James and River went back to their TARDIS and Clara decided to stay with her grandparents after saying goodbye.  She went to her room for some rest, as did the Doctor and Rose, once they were floating safely in the vortex.

 

Snuggled together for the night, the Doctor sighed contentedly, “You were there.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yes, we were together in death and you protected me. If that’s the case, then we don’t need to be afraid of it.  Not that I’m planning on us dying any time soon, but as long as we’re together, it’s not so bad,” he told her.

 

“I’m still scared of the Bad Wolf.  I don’t like that I can’t control it or even remember what happened while she was helping.  But I’m glad that she was here today,” Rose admitted.

 

“Me too.”


	31. The Day of the Doctor - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, here is part one of three for the fiftieth anniversary story. All three parts are written, but I'm going to spread out posting them a little bit so you all have a chance to read them and have just a smidge of suspense. I hope you like the changes that I've made. Please review!!

The Doctor was tired of war.  He never wanted to be involved in the first place; never really cared about the political alliances and enemies of Gallifrey.  They had abandoned him to his own fate and persecuted his decisions so many times, he refused to take responsibility for their actions.  His first encounter with the Daleks had been in his first incarnation, and now, in his eighth, he was so tired of fighting them. The Daleks were his own fault.  He had brought their attention away from their own little planet and onto the rest of the universe, onto Gallifrey in particular.  Therefore, he felt that he needed to help when Romana had called him.

 

After a century of fighting on the front lines, however, he wondered if it would ever end.  Within the time lock of the war, the same battles were often fought over and over again.  The poor souls involved, dying in agony with no escape.  And now, a resurrected Rassilon had taken command and was threatening to enact the Final Sanction.  He decreed that if the Time Lords couldn't be the overseers of the universe, then no one would.  He would destroy everything rather than lose this war.

 

The Doctor could not allow that to happen.  Life would find a way without them.  And so, he had stolen the last weapon in the vaults.  It was called the Moment and was said to be powerful enough to destroy an entire planet.  The trouble was, the Time Lords couldn't figure out how to control it, and so, had locked it away.  Even if it couldn't be controlled remotely; even if it meant suicide for him with the rest of the Time Lords, he would use it to save the rest of the universe.

 

Now, he found himself hiding with the damn thing in an abandoned barn, in the middle of nowhere.  The citizens from this area of Gallifrey had long since fled to safer areas, but the fighting had moved on as well, so it was unlikely that anyone would seek him here.  Turning the box over and over in his hands, he tried to find the controls to get this over with.  Thinking on it any longer could turn him back into the coward that he was when he questioned his right to destroying the Daleks before they started.  The rest of the universe was at stake now and he could not falter.  Pressing the solitary button that he found, the Doctor expected some kind of explosion or burning pain, but was only faced with a shimmering portal.  Timelines swirled incomprehensibly around it as he stared at the thing, then, without warning, something small and red fell out of it and onto the ground at his feet.

 

“A fez?”

 

#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

 

Clara skipped happily into her grandparents’ TARDIS when she saw it parked outside of her new job as a teacher.  She loved sharing what she knew of literature with the students.  It was also rather cool that she was teaching at the same high school where her grandfather’s first granddaughter had attended.  

 

“Clara!” Rose shouted happily upon seeing her and they quickly spun in a warm embrace.

 

Her grandfather was flipping switches on the console as he programmed their next destination. “Fancy a week in ancient Mesopotamia followed by future Mars?” he asked.

 

“Will there be cocktails?” she asked.

 

“On the Moon,” he responded with a smirk.

 

“Oooh! They have the best dancing!” Rose squealed.

 

“The Moon'll do,” Clara told him and laughed when he also welcomed her with a hug.

 

“How's the new job? Teach anything good?” he questioned.

 

“No. Learn anything?” she teased.

 

“Not a thing,” he answered with a grin.

 

“Doctor,” Rose called worriedly as an alarm sounded and she looked at the screen.

 

“What's happening?” Clara shouted, grabbing hold of the railing as the ship shifted suddenly despite the time rotor remaining still and quiet.

 

“Whoa, whoa. We're taking off, but the engines aren't going,” the Doctor told them confusedly.  He yelped as another sudden movement knocked him to the door and he found himself in a familiar position. He clung desperately to the edge of the doorway as Rose raced to grasp his wrists and tried to pull him back inside.

 

Clara picked up the ringing phone on the console and listened as the woman on the line said, “Doctor, hello. We found the TARDIS. I'm having it brought in.”

 

“He's a bit busy at the moment. Can I take a message?” Clara replied snarkily, knowing that her grandfather would not be pleased with this turn of events.

 

“Who are you?” the woman demanded.

 

“His granddaughter, Clara. He is currently hanging out the door of the TARDIS after you nearly flipped us all on our heads,” she informed her.

 

“Oh, my god! Oh, I'm so sorry. We had no idea anyone was still in there,” she apologized and Clara hung up the phone to check on her grandparents.

 

The Doctor seemed to have a fairly secure grip on the TARDIS, but she and Rose couldn't quite get him back inside as the helicopter that was toting them across London swung the ship around. He jumped to the ground as they were lowered onto Trafalgar Square. As soon as possible, Rose and Clara jumped out after him and faced a group of UNIT soldiers.

 

“Attention!” one of the men shouted and the time travellers were formally saluted as a blonde woman and a flustered looking brunette in a white lab coat and rainbow scarf approached them.

 

“Doctor, as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT,” the blonde woman told him and Clara recognized the voice as being the one who had called the TARDIS phone.

 

“Kate Lethbridge Stewart, a word to the wise. As I'm sure your father would have told you, I don't like being picked up,” the Doctor scolded.

 

“Oh, I don't know,” Rose teased as she threaded her arm through his.

 

“I'm acting on instructions from you, in the past. Orders on when you should be contacted to address this problem,” Kate informed him, holding an envelope bearing his own handwriting.

 

“Details?” he prompted.

 

“Best discussed inside,” she responded with a nod to the National Gallery.

 

“Nice scarf,” he told the girl next to Kate that was staring at them in awe. The scarf matched the one he was so fond of in his fourth incarnation. He took Rose’s hand and nodded to Clara as they entered the Gallery and allowed themselves to be led downstairs.

 

“What is all this, granddad?” Clara asked, not used to their adventures involving military personnel. 

 

“Unified Intelligence Task Force,” he replied.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“This lot. UNIT. They investigate alien stuff. Anything alien,” he explained.

 

“Are we going to be dissected or something?” she asked worriedly.

 

“No, I work for them,” he assured her.

 

“You have a job?” Clara questioned.

 

“Why shouldn't I have a job? I'd be brilliant at having a job,” he argued.

 

“You just haven't clocked in for the past few centuries,” Rose interjected.

 

“You don't have a job,” Clara insisted.

 

“I do. This is my job. I'm doing it now,” he said firmly. “Why is it ok for your dad and uncle Jack to work for Torchwood, but the idea of me having a job is ludicrous?”

 

“We have taken on the job of keeping the Earth safe, and if UNIT says they need us, then it fits into our job description,” Rose decided, halting the argument.

 

They all stared in shock as they were suddenly faced with a large painting.  It was an image of Gallifrey during the war. Twin Suns were distantly visible through a dusty sky, the shattered globe surrounding the Citadel showed trails of smoke rising from the buildings inside. The whole image seemed as if you could walk straight into it.

 

“But, but that's not possible,” Clara mumbled.

 

“No More,” the Doctor announced.

 

“That's the title,” Kate responded.

 

“I know the title,” he growled angrily.

 

“Also known as Gallifrey Falls,” Kate continued.

 

“This painting doesn't belong here, not in this time or place.”

 

“Obviously,” Clara said, never having seen this kind of technology before.

 

“It's the fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city,” the Doctor told them.

 

“But how is it doing that? How is that possible? It's an oil painting in 3D,” Clara wondered as she examined it more closely.

 

“Time Lord art. Bigger on the inside. A slice of real time, frozen,” he explained.

 

“Could you show me how to do this, granddad? It's incredible!” Clara asked hopefully, not noticing how pained he was just seeing the image from the Time War.

 

“You placed it here, in the past, as part of the instructions in this emergency,” Kate told him.

 

“You okay, love?” Rose asked softly as she squeezed his hand and let their bracelets link together. She felt an even stronger wave of agony from him when they did, telling her that he was trying to shield the pain he was feeling.

 

“This was the day I decided. The day I did it. The day I killed them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks. And in that battle there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other, a man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe. And that man was me,” the Doctor whispered roughly.

 

“Do you know why it was left here? You said the Doctor left it here, do you know why?” Rose demanded of Kate.

 

“Not entirely, but there are more. Easier to show you,” Kate answered and led them away from that painting and down even more stairs.

 

“Doctor, this is-” Rose began as she looked around the under gallery, but stopped when she felt a warning nudge from the TARDIS in her mind.

 

“Very interesting,” he said as he knelt down to pick up a handful of the white dust covering the floor of the room.

 

“Welcome to the Under Gallery. This is where Elizabeth the First kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption,” Kate told them.  Around them were various paintings and sculptures.  Also, what they guessed were statues, covered in white sheets to protect them.

 

“Elizabeth? Oh god, everything to do with us, she'd deem too dangerous,” Rose groaned.

 

“Stone dust,” the Doctor commented after examining it for a moment.

 

“Is it important?” Kate questioned.

 

“In twelve hundred years I've never stepped in anything that wasn't,” he replied and turned to see the girl with the scarf behind them. “Oi, you. Are you sciency?” he asked, thinking that the lab coat probably meant she did lab type stuff.

 

“Oh, er, well, er, yes,” she stuttered.

 

“Got a name?” he asked.

 

“Yes,” she told him.

 

“Good. I've always wanted to meet someone called Yes,” he responded. The girl looked like she wanted to correct him with her actual name, but he blustered on quickly. “Now, I want this stone dust analysed. And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums on my desk, tomorrow morning, ASAP, pronto, L O L. See? Job. Do I have a desk?”

 

“No,” Kate said bluntly.

 

“And I want a desk,” the Doctor ordered.

 

“Get a team. Analyse the stone dust. Inhaler!” Kate instructed the young woman as she followed the Doctor further into the under gallery.

 

In a small, glass display case, the Doctor found a red fez. Rose groaned when he smiled brightly and put it on before rejoining the group.

 

“Really, Doctor?” Rose sighed.

 

“Fezzes are cool,” he insisted.

 

“Someday, you could just walk past a fez,” Clara told him.

 

“Never gonna happen,” he replied.

 

They entered a white room with a dozen or so three dimensional paintings on the walls and broken glass all over the floor.

 

“As you instructed, nothing has been touched,” someone reported to Kate.

 

“This is why we called you in,” Kate told them.

 

“What exactly did the instructions say?” Rose asked her.

 

“Just when this happened, that we needed to get you here by any means necessary. The letter was stored with the paintings after they were left in the care of Elizabeth the First,” Kate told her.

 

“3D again,” Clara commented to her grandfather as he studied the glass on the floor.

 

“Interesting,” he said.

 

“The broken glass?”

 

“No, where it's broken from. Look at the shatter pattern. The glass on all these paintings has been broken from the inside,” he pointed out.

 

“As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes. No figures of any kind,” Kate said.

 

“So?” the Doctor asked.

 

“There used to be,” she told him as she handed over a tablet showing the pictures as they used to be. In the photo, all of the pictures had people in them, always facing away.

 

“Something's got out the paintings,” Clara realized.

 

“Lots of somethings. Dangerous,” the Doctor corrected, looking around the room.

 

“This whole place has been searched. There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out,” Kate insisted.

 

“Love, what is that? It looks familiar,” Rose asked, pointing out a bright, shimmering portal that appeared in the room.

 

“Oh no, not now,” he grumbled.

 

“Granddad, what is it?”

 

“No, not now. I'm busy.”

 

“Is it to do with the paintings?” Kate questioned worriedly.

 

“No, no. This is different. I remember this. Almost remember,” he told them.

 

“Was this to do with Liz the First? Why don't I remember?” Rose asked him.

 

“Oh, of course! This is where we come in,” he announced, then tossed the fez through the portal.

 

Grasping the hands of Rose and Clara, he pulled them with him through the light, shouting, “Geronimo!”

  
  


#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

 

Rose had managed to sneak into the Queen’s personal chambers.  Her husband had assured her that there were aliens in the palace.  Some kind of shape shifters that he had encountered centuries ago, in the future.  They had wanted to take over the planet before and were certainly up to no good here.  So, Rose and baby Jamie were tasked with searching the castle for clues, while the Doctor made his way beneath the castle to search the darker areas where it would be harder for a woman to go unnoticed in this time period.  Though, she never could understand how his pinstriped suit went relatively unnoticed.

 

_ “I don't see anything unusual here, love. You know this would be easier if I could scan for alien tech with the sonic,”  _ she thought to the Doctor.

 

_ “That is precisely what I'm doing with it down here.  And there is something, I just have to find it, ooh! That looks interesting!”  _ he responded, suddenly distracted.

 

Rose shook her head in exasperation and searched through the various cabinets and drawers in the room for anything obviously alien.

 

“What? How did you get in here?” Queen Elizabeth demanded when she found Rose in her private space.

 

“Uh-oh,” Jamie said from his spot in the sling over his mother’s shoulder.

 

“Oops, ummm cleaning staff?” she suggested meekly.

 

“Guards!” Liz One shouted angrily, prompting Rose to dash out of the nearest door and away from the furious monarch.

 

_ “I'm afraid I was discovered, love.  Time for me to leave,”  _ she informed the Doctor as she ran through the hallways.  The guards followed close on her heels, crashing into the corners as they chased her.

 

_ “I won't be far behind.  Just a moment,”  _ he replied and the whole castle was suddenly shaking with the force of some kind of explosion.

 

They both skidded to a stop right in front of the door and ran outside with guards chasing them from both sides, shouting angrily.  Jamie was laughing happily as he was bounced around in the sling on his mother’s hip, oblivious to the danger.  The Doctor and Rose couldn't help but laugh breathlessly along with him as they ran.  The life of their little family was filled with explosions and running, and always would be.

 

They stopped to catch their breath when they couldn't hear the guards’ pursuit any longer. 

 

“I take it you found something dangerous if you felt the need to blow it up,” Rose prompted.

 

“Yup! Definitely Zygons.  I managed to damage some of the equipment they use in duplicating people.  The originals are kept in stasis, while the aliens walk around in their place.  Looks like they've been here long enough that there might be more than one bunch of those things, but hopefully, that will slow them down a bit,” the Doctor explained.

 

“There weren't any people in there when you blew it up, I hope!” 

 

“What?! No, of course not.  I released the people in stasis first.  Just servants, I think.  The explosion though, had the guards thinking that I was trying to destroy the whole palace,” he answered.

 

“Well, Liz already didn't like me for the fact that flirting with you wasn't getting her anywhere.  Now that she found me snooping about in her room, I'll definitely be on her hit list,” Rose sighed.  The Doctor had told her about meeting Elizabeth the First with Martha and Shakespeare.  He had always wondered why she hated him, and now they were finding out.

 

“She’ll be demanding my head before we’re done, so it's not over yet,” he agreed.

 

“What in the world is that thing?” Rose questioned, staring up at the shimmering portal that hovered over their heads.

 

“Don't know.  Some sort of temporal disturbance from the looks of it,” he told her.

 

Suddenly, something fell out of it, making the light of the distortion flash brightly for a moment.  A red fez fell onto the grass in front of them. Rose picked it up curiously and placed it on Jamie’s head, making him giggle as he tried to pull it back off.

 

“Where did that come from?” Rose wondered, just before three people fell out of the thing and landed on the grass in a heap.

 

The new arrivals disentangled themselves and the young man helped the two ladies with him up from the ground. Rose stared confusedly at herself for a moment, not yet looking at who was with her.

 

“What?!” the Doctor in pinstripes gasped.

 

“Oh my god, is that dad?” Clara questioned.

 

“Really?” he asked, looking at this brunette young lady fondly. A daughter? Oh, how he would love to have another child with his beloved Rose.

 

“Sorry, mate, she means the baby. Yes, Clara, that's your dad in your Gran’s arms,” the Doctor wearing a bow tie corrected.

 

“But…” the younger Rose stuttered as the she looked at her future self. She hadn't aged at all.  They knew something unusual was going on with her biology, but to have a grown granddaughter and still look like she was in her twenties?

 

“Yeah,” the older Rose replied, knowing where her own thoughts had gone. She didn't remember these events, so there must have been some memory suppression to preserve the timelines.

 

“How? How old are you?” the pinstriped Doctor asked his wife from the future.

 

“Rude!” both Roses snapped, his own slapping him in the arm with the back of her hand.

 

“Sorry to interrupt the little reunion, or whatever this is, but is there a reason why that thing is still there?” Clara questioned regarding the glowing portal they'd just fallen through.

 

“Brilliant question, Kate? Can you hear me?” he called out, hoping that it still connected with their point of origin, but there was no reply. “Guessing that you two didn't create that thing?” the oldest Doctor asked.  When the younger couple shook their heads, he snatched the fez off of Jamie’s head and tossed it through the portal once more.

 

“And, why did you do that?” Clara questioned.

 

“To get the attention of whomever might be on the other end?  Whoever made that thing is most likely connected to it at some point in time and space.  They might not even know what it is that they've done,” the bow tie wearing Doctor rambled, but was interrupted by another person jumping through and landing roughly on his feet in front of them.

 

The two Doctors gaped at the sight of their eighth incarnation as he took in his surroundings.

 

“Earth, England, mid fifteen hundreds, I'd say. Well, that's certainly not what I expected to happen,” the youngest Doctor announced before turning to face the others.

 

“What are you doing here?” the Doctor in the pinstriped suit questioned incredulously.

 

“Doctor, who is that?” asked the version of Rose in Elizabethan garb and carrying baby Jamie.

 

“Ah, I see. A pleasure, madam. I am also the Doctor.  Good gracious, why are there two of you here?” he asked when he noticed the other version of Rose.

 

“Well, with three of you, why not?” the older Rose commented.  She had seen pictures of all previous incarnations of her husband and recognized him instantly.  She grasped her husband’s hand and held up their linked wedding bracelets. After accidentally bumping into the ninth Doctor when Jamie was little, they decided that it was important for them to be able to recognize any version of him that they might come across.

 

“Really? Why did that blasted thing do that?” the youngest Doctor wondered, staring up at the spot where the portal had been.  It seemed to be gone now, unfortunately.  “And how do I get back?”

 

“We might need to figure that out later, Granddad.  We have company,” Clara commented and they all looked up to see a dozen or so Zygons facing them.  The slimy, red aliens were snarling angrily and a few appeared to have energy weapons of some kind.

 

“Right,” the eldest Doctor began. “Clara and Rose with Jamie, please stay back while we deal with this.  We definitely don’t want Jamie getting hurt before Clara is even born and causing a paradox, love.”

 

“Why do I have to stay out of it?” Clara grumbled.

 

“Because we really don’t want to have to explain to your parents why you regenerated again and have them keep you from travelling with us anymore, sweetheart,” the older Rose told her, taking position next to her current husband.

 

“Regenerated? But, how?” the youngest Doctor gasped, looking at his future family in awe.  With what he knew would have to happen to stop the Time War, he couldn’t understand how there could be more Time Lords in the future.

 

“Explanations later, Zygons now,” the Doctor wearing a bow tie insisted.

 

“Mama!” little Jamie shouted when he saw the other version of Rose and reached for her despite already being in his mother’s arms.

 

The group of Zygons marched toward them threateningly, one of them holding some kind of scanning device.  The alien holding it pointed out the closest version of Rose to the leader.

 

“That female is not a Time Lord, Commander.  She will not regenerate,” he reported.

 

All of the weapons turned towards her and all three Doctors immediately moved to protect her as best they could.  Clara did her best to shield the younger Rose and her father, even though they were further from the face off.

 

As the weapons started to fire, it became apparent that staying in a group like that was not going to work.  They needed a plan to incapacitate the invaders and get them away from Earth.  Rose dove behind a large tree as the Doctors dodged the shots fired in their directions as well.

 

_ “We need a plan, love,”  _ Rose thought to her husband.  The other two Doctors were surprised to find that they heard her as well.  They’d never heard of bonded couples meeting out of their time like this before, so no one knew how that particular connection would work.

 

_ “Working on it, sweetheart.  I don’t exactly have time to build anything using the contents of my pockets at the moment,”  _ the pinstriped Doctor replied.

 

_ “I’ve got that flashy strobe light ball thing that you made for Jamie in my pocket. Would that help somehow?”  _ the younger Rose suggested from her hiding place.

 

_ “Actually, it might. Only three of them actually have weapons.  If we can stun them for a few seconds, we might be able to run in and disarm them in the confusion,”  _ the oldest Doctor postulated.

 

_ “Are we ready then?”  _ the youngest Doctor asked them, not particularly fond of how this situation wasn’t differing very much from the battles he had been facing for the last few decades.

 

_ “Ready when you are, Rose,” _ the older Rose told the younger.

 

Keeping Jamie held close to her chest, Rose reached into the hidden pocket of her period dress and found the little blue ball that her husband had made for their son.  It was disturbingly bright and noisy, but had kept him quite entertained as he tossed it around his playroom in the TARDIS.  She kept low to the ground as she crawled through the bushes to get closer to the aliens and the others kept dodging their attacks.  When she felt close enough that her throw would reach them, she watched for the best chance to toss it into the fray, not seeing that one of the Zygons was aiming straight for her.

 

The eighth Doctor, however, had been keeping a close eye on that particular alien as the one he planned to disarm and his hearts started racing at the sight of his future wife and son in the line of fire.  He immediately dove in front of her just in time to block the energy blast and fell to the ground.

 

Clara screamed and fired a blaster at each of the Zygon’s weapons, vaporizing them and stopping the fight.

 

“Where did you get that?!” the bow tied Doctor asked incredulously.

 

“You really think that my mum would let me out travelling without one?” Clara replied.

 

“Can we argue about this later?” the youngest Rose snapped at them from her position near the injured Doctor.

 

“You’d best back up a bit, love.  You know how this goes.  Always thought that I regenerated from the blast at the end of the war,” the Doctor from her time warned her.

 

They all backed away, Clara keeping her blaster aimed at the Zygons as they watched warily the consequences of their attack.

 

“I’m so sorry, Doctor,” Rose told the man that would be her husband, tears in her eyes as she saw his pain.

 

“To know what kind of future I have to look forward to? It’s more than worth it,” he gasped and flinched in pain.  His back arched up from the ground as golden light shimmered over his skin beneath the filthy clothes he had worn through too many battles on Gallifrey.

 

Both versions of Rose gasped at the sight of their first Doctor lying on the forest floor and ran to his side as soon as the regeneration energy dissipated. 

 


	32. The Day of the Doctor - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More changes! I'm glad you all liked that I left out the War Doctor. It's not that the actor did a poor job of it, I just don't like the idea at all. We never met him, we didn't know him, and the very concept of him abandoning the title of Doctor is just stupid. Anyway, this is all setting up for even more stuff later, as I'm sure you are aware. Enjoy!

“Oh my god!” the younger Rose gasped.

 

“She wasn't so worried about me after this regeneration,” the pinstriped Doctor grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“I got hit in the head with a cricket bat after the last one!” the Doctor in a bow tie announced.

 

“That was Amy! I was busy bandaging Jamie after you blew up the console room, thank you very much,” the older Rose argued.

 

“And I spent how long taking care of you while you were unconscious through an alien invasion?” the younger Rose added incredulously.

 

“Would you all quit bloody shouting?!” the newly regenerated Doctor complained, rubbing his head as he sat up.

 

“Sorry, love,” both Roses apologized, helping him up.

 

“Hearing in stereo. That's weird,” he commented.

 

“Well, we could blame the ears, but the fact that our wives seem to think you need coddling is more the problem,” the tenth Doctor grumbled.

 

“Accent is weird. That'll take some getting used to,” the ninth added.

 

“God, I missed that,” the older Rose sighed.

 

“Yeah, enough of that, thank you.  Time to deal with the Zygon invasion while Big Ears gets his bearings,” the oldest Doctor insisted.

 

“Why did you lot come to Earth in the first place?” Clara wondered.

 

“Our planet was lost in the Time War.  The ship we used to escape crashed here, damaged beyond repair,” the leader admitted.

 

“Right, well, I’m sure we can figure out some kind of solution other than trying to take over the planet,” Rose reasoned.

 

The bow tie wearing Doctor considered all of the factors leading up to their arrival here and decided that the paintings with missing figures in the future had to be related since Kate said that he had left them there from this point.  The instructions he would be leaving instructed UNIT to contact him immediately upon the escape of the figures from the paintings.  It was likely then, that the Zygons had been placed in stasis inside the paintings, waiting for him to get back to that problem later in his life.  What did all that have to do with the painting of Gallifrey, though? And why was his past self here?

 

“Ok, assuming that we might be able to convince the humans to grant you asylum on their planet, I’m going to guess that you’d rather do so when their technology levels are a bit better than they are now?” the oldest Doctor suggested.  After a general agreement from the aliens, he continued, “Then, I have a solution.  One that we have already seen in the future. Rose?”

 

“Umm, were they the ones in the paintings that got broken?” she asked.

 

“Bingo.  Always brilliant, my love.  Yes, we put all of you into suspended animation inside some fancy Gallifreyan paintings and, when the time is right, you lot come out so we can negotiate the terms of your stay on this lovely planet,” he explained.

 

“Sounds like a plan, although I don’t see why we couldn’t just take them somewhere more friendly in the TARDIS right now,” the pinstriped Doctor suggested.

 

“Because we’ve already seen it?” Clara responded.  Everyone turned to look at her expectantly. “Sorry, well, I just mean that since we already saw the paintings and that’s why we came here to begin with, if it didn’t happen then it would be a paradox.”

 

“Oh, you are a star, Clara,” the pinstriped Doctor beamed.

 

“Absolutely right.  It still doesn’t explain what he’s doing here,” the older Doctor agreed.  “But we can figure that out after we deal with this situation and Liz One.”

 

“Ugh, do we have to?” the oldest Rose groaned.

 

“Afraid so, she isn’t demanding his head yet,” he replied. “And all of those paintings, along with my instructions need to be left with her for UNIT to take control of in the future.”

 

“So how do we make these paintings to put them into?” Clara wondered.

 

“Perfect question, Clara.  And it actually means that, yes, I will be teaching you how to make Time Lord three dimensional art,” he told her.

 

They all made their way to the pinstriped Doctor’s TARDIS to get the equipment that they would need to put the Zygons into stasis.  While Clara and the two older Doctors worked on that problem, the youngest Doctor sat with the two versions of Rose and recovered from his regeneration.

 

“I made you some tea, love,” the younger Rose told him as she handed him his favourite mug.

 

“Not sure how I take my tea now,” he grumbled.

 

“We are,” they answered.

 

“Ah. I meet you in this form then?” he guessed.

 

“Yeah.  Probably pretty soon for you, I’m guessing,” the older Rose told him. “Do you know what happened for you to end up here?  What made those portals?”

 

“The Moment.  I pressed the button, thought it would destroy all of Gallifrey and end the war.  Instead, I was just faced with a time fissure and a fez falling through it.  That means the war is still going on.  I haven’t stopped it yet,” he told them sadly.

 

“As far as you will remember, that did stop the war.  So, when you block your memories of whatever happens today, you will believe that the Moment destroyed Gallifrey.  Now we just need to figure out why it didn’t and what really happened,” the younger Rose said.

 

“Why would the High Council have told everyone that it would destroy a planet if that’s not what it was?  Why would they lock it away like that if it would create a way out of the time lock?” the older Rose wondered.

 

“That is a very good question.  They can’t have just wanted to throw me out of the war.  There’s something big going on and if the High Council is involved, it means they’re probably trying to manipulate me into doing what they want again,” he answered.  “This tea is perfect, by the way, thank you.”

 

“Wondering if we should take you to the wardrobe room to find your jeans and jacket,” the younger Rose teased.

 

“Well, this jacket seems to have a large hole in it now,” he sighed.

 

“Best check with our Doctors to see how you remember waking up after the war first,” the older Rose suggested.

 

“You’re probably right,” he agreed.

 

“Ok, gran, you and granddad have to go see Liz One again,” Clara announced as she entered the console room.

 

The younger Rose groaned and shifted the baby sling into a slightly better position.  Jamie had been sleeping ever since they started walking back to the TARDIS and she was happy for the break.

 

“It’s so weird seeing dad so little,” Clara commented.  “I can feel him in my mind, but it doesn’t feel like dad, you know?”

 

“Seeing your dad as a baby is more odd to you than meeting your granddad before he even met me?” the oldest Rose asked.

 

“Well, I don’t have as strong a telepathic connection with either of you to notice a big difference.  But as a baby, his mind is so different than the brilliant man that he will be,” Clara told them.

 

“Thank you, Clara.  It means so much to me to see what we have to look forward to,” the younger Rose told her, eyes a little glassy.

 

“I could say the same about seeing you,” the youngest Doctor interjected, reaching out to take her hand and gently stroking the head of the sleeping baby.

 

“Right! Time to get this over with, love,” the pinstriped Doctor announced as he bounced into the room, carrying a box that had to be bigger on the inside to contain all of the paintings.  On the top of it, was the letter to UNIT that Kate had shown them.  Inside it, were instructions to contact the Doctor by any means necessary when the figures in the paintings broke out through the glass.

 

“And how are we going to convince Elizabeth to put those in the under gallery?” the younger Rose asked.

 

“The under gallery is for works considered too dangerous for public consumption, right?” the older Rose remembered Kate telling them.

 

“Yup! Anything that she gets from him will be considered dangerous and locked away for safe keeping.  To be uncovered by UNIT in the future, where they will get that letter and contact us at the correct time,” the oldest Doctor explained.

 

The young couple returned to the castle with the box of paintings as a gift to the queen, in apology for the mess they caused.  It was all going a little too well, actually, considering the way she had treated him when he saw her with Martha.  Until little Jamie woke up and threw his flashy bouncy ball into the middle of the room.  The noise and light show created a horrible ruckus and they ran away as soon as the Doctor managed to retrieve the toy.

 

“Now what?” Clara asked when everyone was back inside the TARDIS.

 

“Now, we all go back to deal with the Zygons in the future, as well as what that other painting is doing there.  Once we know that and find the painting where it originally came from, we need to come back and place it with that other box in the under gallery,” the bow tied Doctor explained.

 

When they got back to Kate in the future, they discovered that the escaped Zygons had hidden as the sheet covered statues and destroyed the sculptures they replaced, resulting in the stone dust all over the floor.  A few had also taken over some of the UNIT personnelle. As a result, the negotiations between the humans and Zygons didn’t go well.  When all was said and done, the Zygons agreed to being relocated to another planet entirely instead of dealing with xenophobia and oppression on an Earth that still wasn’t ready to live with aliens in their midst.

 

The pinstriped Doctor and Clara took the younger TARDIS to move all of them while the others stayed to contemplate ‘No More.’ They all stood staring at it as they considered why it was left here and what they were supposed to do with it.

 

“If the other paintings were freezing the Zygons in stasis, yeah? Is this one a frozen moment on Gallifrey?  A way to go back there?” the oldest Rose suggested.

 

“That’s brilliant!” the youngest Doctor shouted.  “The Moment made the door out of the war, but this is the door back in!”

 

“Why now though?” the younger Rose asked.

 

“So that we can all help him?” the other Rose thought.

 

“No.  The Moment didn’t do what it was supposed to do.  The rumours all said that it would destroy the planet, instead it just made those time fissures.  Someone is trying to manipulate me.  All the more reason for me to appreciate the help in fixing it,” the youngest Doctor insisted.

 

“Right, so, we’re going to Gallifrey.  To likely face Rassilon and the entire High Council.  They tried getting out through the Master, but they also had this little plan up their sleeves.  Is there anyone else we should be bringing with us? Jack? An older Jamie and River?” the oldest Doctor rambled, trying to put together a bit of a plan.

 

“Something about all of this pulled these particular versions of you together to face this.  I think we should stick with the people already involved, love.  As much as I don’t like the idea of facing all of that with a baby, we are all part of these events now,” the oldest Rose told him confidently.  She had been becoming more in tune with feeling the way timelines were going and something about this told her to follow this path.

 

“Yes, that’s just me fighting what my time senses are telling me, to keep all of you safe.  I’m not any happier bringing either of you to Gallifrey after what you did to foil Rassilon’s plans when I regenerated,” he conceded.

 

“Oh, yeah.  Will this be after that, do you think?” the oldest Rose asked.

 

“Most likely.  Though the events for them were probably fairly close,” he replied.

 

The other TARDIS rematerialized in the room and Clara bounced out of the doors with the pinstriped Doctor not far behind.  He immediately moved to give his wife and son a kiss before turning to face the others.

 

“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.

 

“We’re going through the painting, to Gallifrey,” the youngest Doctor informed them.  “We need to confront the High Council and find out what the hell this is all about.  They are behind the Moment.”

 

“And we’re taking Jamie?” the pinstriped Doctor questioned worriedly.

 

“As my lovely wife wisely pointed out, these particular versions of us at these points in our life have been brought together for a reason.  The timelines have pulled us together and we would be wise not to question that.  We are all part of these events, including baby Jamie,” the oldest Doctor explained.

 

“Alright, enough chin wagging.  Let’s get this over with,” the youngest Doctor grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

Both versions of Rose looked at him fondly for the familiar behaviour, but the other Doctors merely rolled their eyes.

 

“Yes, fine, let’s go,” the Doctor in a bow tie sighed.  “Come along, Clara, but stay close.”

 

The older Rose used her sonic to remove the glass covering access to the painting, the younger Rose giving her husband a look that said she wanted a sonic too.  They all walked together into the war zone depicted and found that they quickly needed to find cover from the various Daleks around them.

 

“There is a way to the council chambers through the sewers,” the youngest Doctor told them as he started pulling up a grate on the ground nearby.

 

It was a long, uncomfortable walk, but they were relatively safe from the fighting going on over their heads.

 

“Granddad, should we be worried about what the Time Lords will think of me and dad?  The Great Intelligence said they’d want to dissect us or kill us if they saw what we are,” Clara asked worriedly.

 

“No, Clara.  There will be far more important things to worry about right now than scanning any of you.  I’m more worried about Rose to be honest.  At least you and your father have mostly Gallifreyan physiology.  The changes to her, however, are much more complicated,” the oldest Doctor assured her as they walked.

 

“Yeah, um, what exactly has happened to me?” the younger Rose questioned.  It was something they had been trying to figure out for some time now.

 

“My connection with the TARDIS means that I’m much less likely to die, no matter what happens to me, as long as I can get back to Her.  The Bad Wolf never left, and while I still can’t really control it, she tends to help out when any of my family is threatened,” the older Rose explained.

 

The youngest Doctor listened carefully, not completely understanding everything that they were talking about, but happy that his future wife would likely live just as long as he did.  His last incarnation had been so lonely near the end, having lost so many companions over the centuries.  He loved travelling with humans, but their lives were so fleeting.

 

“You were human?” he asked curiously.

 

“Yeah.  Life with you though, something happened that changed me, I connected with the TARDIS,” the older Rose answered.

 

“She absorbed the entire Time Vortex!” the pinstriped Doctor added.

 

“But that would kill you,” the youngest argued.

 

“It very nearly did, but your regeneration took the energy from her and channelled it back into the TARDIS.  Turned you into him, but it was worth it,” the oldest told him.

 

“Right, well, we’re here.  Do we have a plan?” the youngest Doctor redirected, not quite sure how to take all of this for the moment.

 

“Not as such,” the oldest Doctor replied.

 

“More fun that way,” his Rose commented with a wink.  

 

They all smiled at that and after climbing out of the sewers, strode confidently to the High Council Chambers.  The deep hues of the formal robes worn by the members of council cast an intimidating air around them, but they had an important mission to complete here and wouldn’t allow their pompous superiority complex to overshadow the wellbeing of the entire universe.

 

“My Lord Doctors,” one of the voices boomed through the room.

 

“May I ask to whom I am speaking?” the youngest Doctor questioned.

 

“The Lord President, Rassilon, of course,” responded the Imperial Guard next to him.

 

“Interesting, that’s not what you looked like yesterday,” the youngest Doctor commented.

 

“At the fault of that creature beside you,” Rassilon snarled angrily.

 

“What?” gasped the Pinstriped Doctor.

 

“That situation was your own fault,” the oldest Doctor argued.  “If you lot hadn’t decided to involve the Master in all of this, then we wouldn’t have been forced to stop you.” He took the hand of his wife and squeezed it supportively.

 

“How about we talk about what’s happening right now,” the pinstriped Doctor interjected.  “This weapon, the Moment, isn’t quite as advertised.”

 

“Indeed not,” Rassilon smirked.  “We knew that you could be lured to use it, given the right misinformation.  The device is my own design.  A way to move Gallifrey out of the Time Lock, away from the battles, leaving the Daleks and their allies trapped forever.  You will be the one to make it happen, Doctor.  But several versions of the same TARDIS are required for it to work.”

 

“And why do you think that the Doctor would want to pull you out of this?  Last I heard, you were planning to rip the Time Vortex apart, destroying everything else in the universe,” the oldest Rose argued.

 

“The universe needs the Time Lords.  The power of the Eye of Harmony is what ensures a stable web of time, but we would not expect you to understand that, child,” Rassilon countered.

 

“Funny, because I’ve lived in this universe for three centuries now, without Gallifrey anywhere to be found.  We seem to be doing just fine, thanks,” Rose answered, getting surprised looks from the younger couple at the mention of her age.

 

“How dare you-” Rassilon began, glaring at Rose threateningly.

 

“Now, let me get this straight,” the youngest Doctor interrupted, hoping to get back to the purpose of this trip. “The Moment takes everything in the Time Lock and puts it into a bubble universe, safely separate from the rest of existence.  But you want me to use our three TARDISes to pull just Gallifrey out of it, while leaving the Daleks stuck here?”

 

“Precisely,” the Imperial Guard beside Rassilon agreed.

 

“And what guarantee do we get that this war isn’t just going to start all over again? That your overpowering egos won’t decide to enact the Final Sanction anyway?  I’ve almost come to terms with what I believed I had already done to Gallifrey and everyone on it, I am not going to abandon the hearts wrenching decisions that I already made.  I would love to give all of you the chance to prove to me that you could actually change, but there isn’t time for that with the Daleks outside.  And I will not risk the safety of the rest of the universe,” the oldest Doctor told them.

 

“Then all of you will perish here.  Starting with this Abomination,” Rassilon announced, nodding to the Imperial Guard, who immediately fired on the oldest version of Rose.

 

“No!” the oldest Doctor screamed and pulled her up into his arms before she could hit the floor.  The other Doctors and Clara crowded around them protectively as they all began to back out of the room.

 

“Do not let them escape,” Rassilon ordered, all of the guards advancing ominously.

 

“We’ve got to get her to the TARDIS,” the oldest Doctor told the others.

 

“Only one on the planet is mine, but it’s out in the wastelands,” the youngest Doctor argued.

 

“Look, I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but I’ve been trying to build this, based on dad’s original plans.  I haven’t tested it yet,” Clara suggested, pulling a mostly completed vortex manipulator out of her pocket.

 

“Blasters and vortex manipulators? What else are you hiding in those pockets?” the oldest Doctor asked her, scanning the device with his sonic to check on its construction.

 

“Mum taught me to be prepared for anything, especially travelling with you two,” she said with a smile.

 

“Ok, just adding a bit to the software so that we don’t have to get everyone touching it, but keep close.  Nice work, Clara,” he praised, programming the device to take them where he remembered leaving the TARDIS.  They would still need to retrieve the Moment, but he needed to get Rose back to the ship.

 

In a flash of white light, three Doctors, two Roses, Jamie, and Clara all disappeared from the High Council chambers and materialised just outside the TARDIS doors.  Her paint was faded and dusty from the battles she’d been put through, but the Doctor in pinstripes and his Rose were used to that look.  The ship not bothering to fix the paint until she changed with the next regeneration.  The younger Rose quickly pulled out her key and opened the door to allow the oldest Doctor to carry the other Rose through to the medbay.

 


	33. The Day of the Doctor - Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the last part of my version of Day of the Doctor! I hope you all liked the changes that I made to this story arc. I know several of you were very happy with the inclusion of Nine rather than the War Doctor. I really feel like it had to be Eight and Nine for my own mind. Nine was a new regen in "Rose," we know that because he was freshly looking at himself in her flat the day after he blew up Henrick's, but Eight earned his role in playing the most formative part in our modern Doctors. I have several more major changes planned for Time of the Doctor (not sure how recognizable it will even be compared to the original episode), but I might put an interlude chapter between... haven't decided yet.

Everyone followed to make sure that the older Rose would be alright before dealing with the Moment and the possible Time Lords that would be after them.  The oldest Doctor placed her on the bed and the computers nearby immediately started to display her vital signs.

 

“There’s been significant damage to her nervous system and her brain, but the energy from the TARDIS is healing her at an incredible speed,” the bow tie wearing Doctor informed them.  

 

On the screen above her head, they could see a golden light shining over the injured areas and spreading quickly as she was healed.  The pinstriped Doctor peered at it closely, analysing the differences in the scans he had been running recently on his own Rose.

 

“It’s changing her! That is not what her scans looked like yesterday,” he argued.

 

“Is it dangerous?  Will I be alright?” the younger Rose asked worriedly.

 

“Oh! Yes, yes, yes! This is even better!  These are the changes she was talking about,” the oldest Doctor cheered, confusing the others.

 

“Who was talking about?” Rose wondered.

 

“The Bad Wolf!  I had a chance to talk to her a little while back while she was protecting you from being turned into a Cyberman,” he began, earning himself horrified looks from his younger selves in the process.  “She said that you would be able to call on her power to help when your mind was better able to process timelines without burning up.  These structures here are not the way they look in a human, but they are very similar to those in a Gallifreyan.  This is marvellous.”

 

They all watched quietly as Rose continued to heal from the weapon used on her in the council chambers, but there was a lot more that needed doing.

 

“Right.  Well, we need to get this ship back to the Moment and get it out of here before they find another way of using it without us.  Close all of this off so that they can’t just rip it wide open again, and get myself to wherever it is you remember waking up after the war,” the youngest Doctor announced, breaking the silence.

 

Clara stayed in the medbay with her grandmother so that someone would be there when she woke and to watch the monitors for anything going wrong, but the TARDIS would likely also warn him in the console room if that were the case.  The Doctors piloted the TARDIS to the shed where he had hidden with the device that started all of this mess and exited the ship to see how best to deal with it.

 

“Should we destroy it?” the pinstriped Doctor suggested.

 

“I don’t think so.  I think this box itself is the key to locking them away.  Rassilon said that this is what makes the bubble universe, locking them inside.  We just need to make sure that they don’t have the combination to open the door again,” the youngest Doctor replied.

 

“Then we lock it with your name,” Rose insisted.

 

“Then even I couldn’t open it, love.  Not unless I was dying,” the oldest Doctor argued.

 

“But I could.  And were you really planning on opening it? There’s no guarantee that Rassilon isn’t still planning to rip the Time Vortex apart by enacting the Final Sanction,” she countered.

 

“You’re right.  And it is a good plan.  They might not even guess that’s what I would use.  Let’s get this thing into the TARDIS and onto the other side of that portal,” the youngest Doctor agreed.

 

They connected the device to the TARDIS console to analyse just how it worked.  Rassilon had created it to work with his ship after all.  They found the program that would pull only Gallifrey out of the Time Lock and avoided activating it, also finding the protocols that would lock the bubble universe away.  By flying the ship physically through the time portal in the shed, the Moment turned in on itself and sealed the Time War in its own little universe.  Rose whispered the Doctor’s name into the controls to seal them there and as soon as she had completed the task, the box transformed into the painting ‘No More.’

 

They travelled back to Elizabeth’s time and snuck the painting into the palace to be stored with the others.  The Doctor was careful not to be seen when he placed it there, because he was surely on her hit list now.  Having closed that time loop rather neatly, they returned to the under gallery where the other two TARDISes were waiting.

 

Rose was awake again by the time they got back and gathered for tea around the future painting.  They weren’t quite sure what to do with this one, not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands now that they knew what it was.

 

“Where should I be heading now?” the youngest Doctor questioned, knowing that he would have to conceal the memories from all of this for now.  They had already told him that they had thought pushing the button had destroyed Gallifrey completely.

 

“Ooh, uh, Southhampton, ninth of April, 1912,” the pinstriped Doctor told him.

 

“Are you insane?! That’s fixed!” the youngest Doctor shouted.

 

“Yes.  Trust me.  There’s no point in telling you why or what you’ll do, just trust me,” he insisted.

 

With a sigh, he shook his head and stood to be on his way.  He was stopped for a moment by the youngest Rose, who gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.  “Find me, Doctor,” she told him and he smiled at her before disappearing to his ship.  It wasn’t the wide grin that she had loved so much from him, he was still a bit too broken from the war for that, but it was a promise that he would indeed find her to begin their fantastic life together.

 

“We should be off as well,” the next youngest Doctor announced.  He approached the older version of his wife for a moment and placed his hand on her cheek.  She closed her eyes and smiled at the familiar touch.  It had been centuries since she’d seen this version of her husband, but this was the one she married and promised her forever.  “I can’t tell you how happy I am to know that you’ll really be with me for the rest of my lives, love.”

 

“I know, Doctor.  And while you’ll have to forget this for now, you don’t have to worry about River Song.  She’s just fine,” she assured him, knowing that it was something that had bothered him since before she came back.

 

“What’s this about mum?” Clara interrupted.

 

“Mum?” the younger Doctor asked.

 

Rose laughed at the confused look on his face before explaining, “She’s Jamie’s wife.”

 

“Oh. Right, well, time to go.  Memories to adjust, and all that.  Give that mum of yours a kiss for me Clara, I owe her my life,” he responded and pulled his wife into the TARDIS to continue their journey.

 

The remaining Doctor, Rose, and Clara sat on the bench quietly for a few moments, contemplating everything that had happened.  They would likely have to deal with this painting and Gallifrey again at some point, but for now, the universe was safe.

 

“Oh, I meant to tell you, granddad, the curator wanted to speak with you,” Clara told him before taking all of the tea cups back into the TARDIS.

 

“I could be a curator.  I’d be a great curator,” the Doctor commented.

 

“You’d be bored in ten minutes, love,” Rose told him as she watched a vaguely familiar face approach them.  She knew the minute they had originally entered the under gallery that this was the TARDIS, but She had warned Rose not to reveal it earlier.  “You're the Doctor, aren't you?”

 

Her current Doctor looked at her confusedly before taking in the new man.  His face looked very old, but was clearly similar to that of his fourth incarnation.

 

“Hello, gorgeous. Observant as ever,” he greeted her.

 

“Where is..?” the younger Doctor asked.

 

“Oh, busy with the children, I should think. She said there were enough versions of herself around to keep us in line,” he replied, knowing that his younger self was worried about whether Rose was still with him.

 

“And what do we do about Gallifrey?” he questioned, hoping for a little guidance.

 

“The only way to open it, is with your name, and there are only the two of you who know it.  The time will come to deal with that.  You won't need to go looking for it,” he assured them.

 

“Are you the next one?” Rose wondered.

 

“You know better than to ask that, my love. Though I might be further along than you think,” he said with a wink.

 

“What do we do with the painting?” the younger Doctor asked.

 

“Oh, no need to worry about that.  I know just what to do with it.  Now, you’d best be off, there’s a whole universe out there to explore,” the other Doctor told them as he walked back the way he came.

 

“Quite right.  Where shall we take our brilliant granddaughter next, my love?” her husband questioned, taking Rose’s arm.

 

“Well, we could let her choose, or use the randomizer.  Or you and I could go and work on some of those children that he just mentioned,” Rose teased with her tongue between her teeth.

 

“Another fantastic idea, my dearest Rose,” he agreed and surprised her by picking her up and carrying her the rest of the way into the ship.


	34. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, my incredible beta reader, thedoctormulder is without internet access for a bit. I have the next story arc written, but I'm going to try and wait for her to come back and look it over before posting. In the meantime, I have a little un-beta-ed smut to share. I hope there aren't too many mistakes in there, but I didn't want to leave you all without anything for too long.

Clara was back on Earth, doing her teacher-ish things.  River and Jamie were off exploring with their own TARDIS.  Torchwood was getting on just fine with Pete, Donna, and Mickey helping out. They occasionally visited with the younger Clara, Jamie, and River.  For the most part, they were all happily living their lives.

 

As a result, the Doctor and Rose were on their own for a bit.  They decided to take a vacation and were visiting the many wonders of the universe.  Mostly tourist spots before they had been discovered.  Waterfalls, mountain tops, secluded beaches, and the like.  Rose was currently sun bathing on the pink sands of what would be one of the most popular resorts in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Doctor was lounging beside her, admiring the lovely purple bikini she was wearing.  He had told her that there was no need for any clothing at all, given the lack of anyone else around, but she said that she didn’t want to risk getting sun burn on her more sensitive parts.  He reluctantly agreed that would be unfortunate, but now he was calculating just how long it would take him to get the scraps of cloth off of her.

 

Rose sighed happily and shifted onto her stomach so that her back could get some sun as well.  This affected the Doctor’s calculations favourably, as the ties for her top were now more easily accessible.  He gazed lovingly at his beautiful wife.  In all of his lives, he had never dreamed that he would find love like this.  He loved all of his companions, but in more of a paternal or fraternal way.  Only once or twice had he thought it was something more romantic, but they still paled in comparison to what he felt for his Rose.

 

“You’re staring love,” Rose mumbled, surprising him from his musings.

 

“That’s because you look so delectable lying there, darling,” he replied and moved to lie next to her on the blanket. He toyed with the ends of the ties on her bathing suit. “I was thinking about how I had never thought I would have something like this before I met you.”

 

“Never thought a love like this was even real before I met you,” she admitted.  “Figured I’d end up having a few kids, working in a shop maybe, hope that whoever their father was would hang around.  That’s how it was for everyone on the estate.”

 

“You deserve the universe, my love.  Jewels, travel, pampering, anything your little heart desires,” he told her earnestly as he finally pulled the string to release the top of her bikini.

 

“I have everything I desire with you,” she sighed and turned toward him, allowing the fabric to fall away from herself onto the blanket.

 

He moaned and threaded his fingers into her blonde curls, pulling her mouth harshly against his.  His other hand cupped one of her now exposed breasts and squeezed it gently, prompting Rose to bury her own hands into his thick hair as well.  The Doctor rolled her onto her back and moved his leg over hers, pushing her knees slightly apart.  The hand that was previously combing through her long hair trailed teasingly down her side until he reached her hip and turned toward where she really wanted him to touch.  Rose squirmed in anticipation making him chuckle at how easily he could please her. Centuries of practice meant that he knew every little touch that would set her on fire with lust and he marvelled at how it never grew boring.

 

The Doctor rubbed her clitoris through the dampening fabric of her bikini and Rose closed her eyes, sighing in bliss at her husband’s touch.  She reached down to his swim trunks and squeezed his bum, sending him a telepathic indication that she would like him naked as well.  He moved to take off his shorts, then pulled her bottoms off and tossed them aside.

 

Rose smiled up at him as he hovered over her and he rubbed his nose against hers playfully.  Could he be any happier? In all his lives, things had never been more perfect.  It was almost terrifying in the fact that sooner or later, something was bound to go wrong.  For the moment, however, he would bask in it.  The Doctor lowered himself onto her body and finally entered her waiting body.  She pulled his mouth to hers once more by tugging on his hair and he set a slow, languorous pace, not wanting it to ever end. 

 

Rose wrapped her legs around the Doctor’s waist as they easily fell into a well practised rhythm.  The life she knew before the Doctor was so brief in comparison to the time they spent together now.  The time that she had spent with even the first incarnations of him that she fell in love with were even shorter and while she knew that one day, she would have a new Doctor to love, having spent centuries with this version would make the change very difficult.  She quickly banished those thoughts.  They were having such a marvellous time, she didn’t want to spoil it with things like that.  Like the Doctor, though, she felt the timelines threatening to burst their perfect little bubble with catastrophe.

 

“I love you, Doctor,” she sighed, redirecting her attention back to enjoying the time they had.

 

“And I you, my darling Rose,” he replied and whispered endearments to her in Gallifreyan.  She had tried to learn some of his language a century or two ago, but she had become terribly frustrated with the number of verb tenses and given up.  Still, she loved the sound of him speaking to her in the long forgotten language of his people.

 

Feeling that he wouldn’t last much longer, the Doctor reached between them to stimulate her just a little more, urging her on with telepathic caresses, while trying to hold back and wait for her to fall before him.  If there was one thing that he prided himself on in their marriage, it was that he wouldn’t leave her unsatisfied.  Rose screamed her release, knowing there was no one else to hear, and he followed her quickly with a few more firm thrusts.

 

He collapsed next to her on the blanket and Rose turned to snuggle into his side as they caught their breath.

 

“We should go back inside,” Rose mumbled.

 

“I don’t want to move from this spot.  I want to stay in this very moment for eternity with you,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Mmm. As lovely an idea as that is, I don’t want you to get sunburn on that lovely arse of yours,” Rose teased.

 

“Fine.  A shower and then dinner and dancing on Melodia III.  Every course of the meal contains chocolate,” he told her with a quick peck on the lips before he jumped to his feet and began collecting their things.

 

Rose couldn’t help but wonder how long they could keep running like this before the next disaster took hold.  But if they lived their lives forever in fear of that, they’d never enjoy what they had in the moment.


	35. Time of the Doctor - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I've gotten the help of Vampiyaa to edit these while thedoctormulder is without internet access. This story arc will be the end of "The Mystery Girl" though likely not the end of the Family Timelines series. I do love Twelve after all. I hope you like the changes that I've made. Please comment and let me know.

“My Lady, word from our sources in the High Council,” the man reported as he burst into Romanadvoratrelundar’s office.

 

“Yes, what is it?” she asked eagerly.

 

“Apparently, three versions of the Doctor, a young lady, two of the same woman at different points in her timeline, and an infant, all came to face Rassilon regarding the Moment,” he told her.  “Rassilon claimed that it was the woman who had stopped the attempt to break out of the time lock with the Master.  He tried to kill her, but it is unclear whether he was successful, as the group teleported out of the council chambers immediately.”

 

“The other Doctors were not recognized regenerations of his from the past?” Romana questioned.

 

“No, my Lady.”

 

“Then we must presume that they are versions from after the war.  We can only hope that he has managed to find a way to stop all of this madness,” she replied.

 

“He has,” sounded another voice as she entered the room.  “And if we are going to help him save the universe from the madness of Rassilon, then he may need our help.”

 

##############

 

“Alright, love, they’re all here. Daleks, Sontarans, Terileptils, Raxacoricofallipatorians. And they're not even fighting, they're just parked. Why?” Rose asked her husband as she looked worriedly at the monitor.

 

“This message.  A message that I can’t even translate.  It’s being transmitted throughout the entire universe.  So, why are they here if they don’t understand it?” he wondered, also confused by their current situation.

 

“Well, to be fair, we’re here,” she replied.

 

“Well, you know, I'm OCD. What's their excuse? What does this message mean?” he asked rhetorically, focussing on the signal again to try and decipher its meaning.

 

Rose’s mobile started ringing and she stepped away from the console so that her discussion wouldn’t disturb her husband’s concentration.  “Hello?”

 

“Gran, help. Christmas dinner. Me cooking,” Clara pleaded curtly through the phone.

 

“Umm, ok.  Has the rest of the family warned you about my cooking at all?  I might not be the best person to call about this, yeah?” Rose responded.

 

“I just need you two to come for Christmas dinner. Just do that for me. Come to Christmas dinner,” Clara pleaded.

 

“Well, we are a bit busy with something at the moment, dear,” Rose argued, watching as the Doctor ran around the console.  It looked like another ship had just entered orbit around the strange planet and he was trying to establish who they were without just jumping on board and getting himself killed.

 

“Well, can't we do both?” she asked.

 

“Fine.  We’ll come and get you, take care of this, then go back and celebrate Christmas with everyone.  Alright?” Rose told her.

 

“Yes! Thank you, see you soon,” Clara sighed and ended the call.

 

“Looks like we need to make a quick stop on Earth to pick up our companion, Doctor,” Rose told him, interrupting his current scans.

 

“Eh? What?” he asked distractedly.

 

“Clara.  She needs us for something.  I said we’d pick her up, bring her to help us take care of this, then go back to whatever her problem on Earth is,” Rose informed him.

 

“Sure.  Yes, another set of eyes is just what we need,” he agreed and they worked together to pilot the TARDIS to the Tyler home in Cardiff.  It was where their little group from Torchwood all gathered to celebrate the major holidays and such.

 

##############

 

“How's the turkey doing, sweetheart?” Jackie called from the sitting room.

 

“Great. Yeah, yeah, it's doing great. Well, dead and decapitated, but that's Christmas when you're a turkey,” Clara told her, blocking anyone else from entering the kitchen.

 

“You sure you don’t want any help in there?” Donna asked her, recognizing the slight look of panic on the young girl’s face.

 

“Me? No! No, I’m fine really. Everything is just fine,” she assured them.

 

Clara went back into the kitchen and shut the door behind her, closing her eyes as she considered all of her options for dealing with the fact that she had no idea how to make a human Christmas dinner after promising to take charge of the whole thing for her family.

 

“You know, you’re a rotten liar,” Jack told her, leaning against the cabinets by the oven.  

 

“Uncle Jack!” she gasped.  “You nearly scared me to death!”

 

“Well, it’s a good thing you can regenerate then,” he teased.  “Now, why aren’t you letting them help you with this?  I can help, if you’ll let me.”

 

“No.  I said I would do this.  I want to do this for all of you.  I just, haven’t quite figured out exactly how I got it wrong,” she admitted, gesturing to the oven.

 

Jack opened the door and saw that the turkey inside was nowhere near as cooked as it should be at this point and checked the settings on the appliance.  She clearly had the temperature set far too low, but dinner was supposed to be ready any time now.

 

“Well, given the current situation, I’d say what you need is a time machine,” he told her with a smile.

 

“Yes, thank you, I realize that.  I have one on the way,” she pouted.

 

They both smiled when they heard the TARDIS materializing outside and, when Clara grabbed the pan with the turkey in it and headed for the door, Jack followed her down to meet them.

 

“Oh, Clara, that’s rivalling even my cooking ineptitude,” Rose told her as she looked at the fairly raw bird in the pan she was carrying.

 

“I don’t know, Rosie, I’ve tried your shepherd’s pie,” Jack argued.

 

“Now, Jack, I cannot stand by and allow you to insult my wife like that,” the Doctor told him.

 

“Are you going to say you like her cooking?” he challenged.

 

“Don’t- don’t do that.  My wife does amazing things in the kitchen! With... tea and... things,” he insisted, trying not to lie while defending his wife’s honour.

 

“What's wrong? Do you think it's not done yet?” Clara interrupted, hoping to get back to fixing her problem.

 

“I think a decent vet would give it an even chance,” the Doctor assessed.

 

“Come on, Clara, I know just the thing,” Rose told her and brought her inside the TARDIS.

 

In the TARDIS kitchen, Rose had learned centuries ago just how marvellous their time ship was for things like this.  If their beloved ship didn’t help with the cooking, the Doctor and Rose would both likely starve.  Rose had never been any good at cooking and the Doctor could never be bothered to stop and pay attention to anything in there long enough not to burn it.

 

“Here we are.  We’ll put it in the oven here and let the TARDIS take care of it.  While that’s going, you two can come and help us with a little problem we’ve got.  We’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner with the family,” Rose assured them.

 

##################

 

The Doctor and Rose flew the TARDIS back to the planet they had just left.  It was surrounded by hundreds of ships now and they were reminded, fearfully, of the Pandorica.  Whatever was happening, it was big.

 

“So what exactly is the situation?” Jack asked them.

 

“There’s a message being broadcast to the entire universe from here.  We can’t translate it, but for some reason, just about every dangerous alien you can think of is here because of it.  Something is happening here, we just don’t know what,” Rose explained.

 

Jack looked at the monitor to see the current scans.  “Yikes.  They’re all here. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, a bunch I don’t even recognize,” he cringed.

 

An alert sounded, drawing the attention of the Doctor to the TARDIS’ analysis of the signal.  He dashed over to the controls to look at what his ship had found.

 

“There’s a secondary signal beneath the main one.  The TARDIS has found a pattern embedded inside of it.  It’s like a standard Gallifreyan decoding key for transmissions, so only other Time Lords could read what was sent.  Problem is, if I decode the secondary message, it’ll also decode the main one for everybody out there,” the Doctor told them.

 

“No, that’s silly.  You don’t have to run it on the main transmission.  Record the looped transmission, isolate it in the computer here, and then translate it,” Clara argued.

 

“Brilliant, Clara.  Best to keep as much of this to ourselves as possible,” Rose agreed and started isolating their copy of the message.

 

The Doctor ran the sequence over the two messages and they were heard loudly in the console room.

 

_ “Doctor, this is Romana.  We have gathered a small resistance force to assist you as much as we can.  Rassilon knows that you must have chosen your name as the key to unlock the Moment.  Only you and your mother are left that know it.  She is safe with us for now, but I worry that she may take drastic measures if she is captured.  Rassilon plans to try and ally himself with your enemies to get the information he needs.  The war has driven half of Gallifrey completely mad.  I’ve embedded in this message, our location on Gallifrey in your favourite code from when we travelled together and the frequency to contact us.” _

 

“Guessing that was the secondary message.  What’s the main one say?” Rose wondered.

 

The Doctor flicked another switch and the words,  _ “Doctor who?” _ echoed through the room on a loop.

 

“What planet is this?” Clara questioned.

 

“We’ve been trying to figure that out, but it’s been shielded.  The TARDIS doesn’t have the official name on record,” Rose told her.

 

Clara looked at the coordinates in the computer and realized that she recognized the spatial coordinates.  The time was vastly different, but they had definitely been to this planet before.

 

“That’s Trenzalore,” she whispered.

 

“What?” the Doctor asked suddenly.

 

“The coordinates.  Look at the spatial coordinates and compare them to when you came to rescue us from the Great Intelligence.  That planet down there is Trenzalore,” Clara insisted.

 

“But. Oh my god, Doctor,” Rose gasped, her eyes filling with tears as she considered just what this might mean.

 

“No, Rose.  No.  Time can be rewritten.  Just by knowing that this planet could be our grave could change things.  You and I have so much more to do,” he assured her.

 

“But Doctor, doesn’t knowing a future event make it fixed?” Jack argued, not really wanting it to be true, but falling back on his training as a time agent.

 

“Sometimes.  But we don’t really know the event, or the time involved.  It doesn’t have to be now,” the Doctor countered, hugging his wife tightly to his chest.

 

“Ok, so your friend’s message said that they’re trying to recruit all the baddies out there to help them get your name so they can get out, right?  Then why would they encrypt it in such a way that none of them would understand it?” Jack wondered, trying to get back to the main problem.

 

“Good question.  And why would they all come here just because of some message they don’t understand?” Clara agreed.

 

Their discussion was interrupted by another transmission.  This one was coming from one of the ships in orbit, inviting them aboard.

 

“Who are they?” Clara asked.

 

“Papal Mainframe. It's like a great big flying church. The first ship to arrive. They are the ones who shielded the planet. They can get us down there,” the Doctor told her as he typed in a reply.

 

“Oh, not Tasha,” Rose groaned.

 

“A friend of yours?” Clara questioned, worried by her grandmother’s response.

 

“Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious. Don’t worry, my love, no one could steal my hearts from you,” he replied, kissing Rose’s hand in assurance.

 

“Wait a minute, Doctor.  Isn’t it the rule that we have to be naked in church?” Jack asked with a smirk.

 

“Stop it.  They got rid of that rule years ago, not that I’d care about their rules anyway.  You just want an excuse to take your clothes off,” he chastised before piloting the ship onto the the Papal Mainframe.

 

They walked together through the corridors toward the main reception area where Tasha awaited them.  The Doctor kept a hold of Rose’s arm, knowing that Tasha’s flirting always irritated her.

 

“So, this is a church?” Clara questioned.

 

“The Church of the Papal Mainframe, security hub of the known universe,” the Doctor explained.

 

“A security church?” she asked confusedly.  All of the churches she was familiar with had to do with worshipping various gods or goddesses, recruiting people, collecting offerings, etc.

 

“Yep. Keeping you safe in this world and the next. I venerate the exaltation of the Mother Superious,” the Doctor announced and bowed to the woman in front of them.  

 

Rose and Jack bowed as well, so Clara followed suit.  The colonel beside the Mother Superious greeted them formally, “Welcome to the Church of the Papal Mainframe.”

 

“Hey, babes,” Tasha said to the Doctor, earning herself a glare from Rose.

 

“Yeah, you can cut it out now, Tasha,” Rose snapped.

 

“Ah, Rose, you’re looking well.  And who else have you brought along?” she asked, eyeing Jack appreciatively.

 

“Captain Jack Harkness at your service, Mother Superious,” Jack told her with his million dollar smile.

 

“And this is our granddaughter, Clara Tyler,” the Doctor added. “Clara, this is Tasha Lem, the Head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe.”

 

“We'll go to my chapel. All honours in place, no sacrifices required,” Tasha told them.

 

“You shielded the planet, but you could sneak me down there, couldn't you, Tash?” the Doctor requested.

 

“I would have conditions,” she replied and turned to the others.  “I have confidential matters to discuss with the Doctor. Would you excuse us?”

 

“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of my family. Well, quite a lot of it. Rose for sure, the others, well probably about half. Maybe a smidge under. Actually, Clara, Jack, would you mind waiting out here, please?”

 

“Sure, Doc.  I’ll keep an eye on her,” Jack assured him.

 

The Doctor and Rose followed Tasha into what looked more like a bedroom than a chapel, but Rose was expecting it from their previous encounters with the woman.  She knew they were happily married, but never ceased in pursuing him.  Rose guessed that she probably would be happy with a threesome, but Rose and the Doctor had no interest in sharing.

 

“That message is transmitting through all of space and time. What did it make you feel?” Tasha asked.

 

“Feel?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“Every sentient being in the universe who detected that signal felt something. Something overpowering,” she told them.

 

“Doubt you’d hear that from the Cybermen out there. I didn’t feel anything different from our usual excitement about a mystery,” Rose answered.

 

“What did they feel?” he asked.

 

“Fear. Pure, unadulterated dread.”

 

“That’s why they all came here? Even though none of them know what it says?” Rose deduced.

 

“Right. Where's it coming from precisely?” the Doctor asked.

 

“It's a settlement. Human colony, level two. A farm, basically.”

 

“Right. Anyone been for a look?” he questioned.

 

“Any one ship lands, the rest will follow. There will be bloodshed. Fortunately we got here first, shielded the planet. We maintain the truce by blocking all of them,” Tasha told them.

 

“Daleks, Cybermen, one of that lot, could break through your defences,” the Doctor argued, knowing that while the Church was security for the universe, their technology wasn’t above the nastiest creatures he had met.

 

“Perhaps. But they're afraid, remember? Nobody wants to go first.”

 

“We do.”

 

“I was counting on it,” Tasha said with a smirk.

 

The Doctor and Rose left Tasha’s private chapel and rejoined Clara and Jack.  Clara seemed a bit shaken, but Jack had an arm around her in support.

 

“Are you okay?” the Doctor asked worriedly.

 

“Fine. Yeah, fine. Sorry,” Clara mumbled.

 

“We bumped into a few unexpected aliens hanging around,” Jack explained, squeezing Clara’s shoulder.

 

“Right. This is my personal teleport. I can put you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour. And on your life, Doctor, you will cause no trouble down there,” Tasha told them.

 

“When do I? Don't answer that,” the Doctor responded.

 

“Why can’t we take the TARDIS?” Rose questioned.

 

“If any of those other ships detect a vessel down there, they’ll all attack.  As you’ve already pointed out, we can’t stop them all,” she replied.

 

The four time travellers all crammed into the small teleport cubicle.  

 

“Remember. I want you back in one hour,” Tasha insisted before activating the teleport.

 

They found themselves standing in the snow and started to make their way towards the lights of the nearby settlement.  Given the new information that they got from Tasha, they needed to make a plan.

 

“So, we know that this is somehow Rassilon, trying to break out of the bubble universe created by the Moment.  Romana has your mother protected for now and if we can find a way, we should try to save her little group before closing this off once and for all,” Rose summarized.

 

“Sounds good to me,” Jack commented.

 

“It still doesn’t explain why the message is being transmitted in a code that only you would be able to translate, granddad,” Clara added.

 

“Actually, I had a thought about that,” Rose interjected.

 

“You are on fire today, Rose Tyler! What’s your theory?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“Tasha said that the message made everyone really afraid, yeah? So they all gathered together to deal with it somehow.  Thing is, the Time Lords knew that you’d come to figure it out too, and they want you here so that the others can attack you and get the information that Rassilon wants.  It’s the bait for us and the enemies that he wants to ally with,” Rose deducted.

 

“That’s brilliant, Rosie!  Now what do we do about all this?” Jack asked them.

 

“First things first, we need to bring the TARDIS down,” the Doctor said.

 

“You can't fly it remotely,” Clara argued.

 

“Not exactly, but I’ve been working on calling her to me.  Knowing that my life might depend on getting to her quickly, we’ve prioritized being able to retrieve her from say, the centre of a planet that she’s fallen into, or from a spaceship where they’ve tried to keep her,” Rose explained and her eyes glowed gold for a moment before the sound of the TARDIS materializing sounded beside them. “It’s not really flying her, so much as calling to her and pulling her to me through the link between us. And it only works when she’s nearby.”

 

“Perfect! Rose, you are amazing,” the Doctor beamed and dashed inside to do some scans closer to the source of the message.

 

The TARDIS computers were able to pinpoint the location of the breach between the universes and allowed them to set up communications with Gallifrey.  The Doctor chose to contact Romana first, as she would have more current information about the situation.  

 

“Romana, this is the Doctor.  Don’t suppose that genius brain of yours has a plan?” he asked hopefully.

 

“Doctor! Our information on your status is minimal.  Were you able to save your companion after your encounter with Rassilon?” Romana responded, a grainy image of her appearing on the monitor.

 

“Ah, yes.  Romana, I’d like you to meet my wife, Rose Tyler, alive and well,” he told her, pulling Rose next to him so that his old friend could see her.

 

“Your wife?  I’d say congratulations are in order, except that it means we have one more person who possesses the information that Rassilon needs, correct?” she presumed.

 

“Well, yes, but it shouldn’t be a problem.  It was at her suggestion actually that we use my name, since we’re the only two in this universe that know it.  But, I’m not terribly worried about anyone finding that out.  What we do need to work on is (A) getting you lot out of there and safely over here before (B) we close off Gallifrey from this universe for good.  So, plans, do we have any?” the Doctor told her.

 

“You said there was a breach near here between the two, Doctor.  Is there some way to travel through it without busting it open?” Jack suggested.

 

“A good thought.  How many are in your little gang there, Romana?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Only fifteen in total.  Myself, your mother, Braxiatel, Andred, and Leela, along with ten of the Imperial Guard whose loyalties lie with us rather than Rassilon.  I trust them all implicitly, Doctor,” she informed them.

 

“Ok, so we need to find a way to get them through the breach and onto this side.  Once we’ve done that, what do we do about Gallifrey?  We have to close that crack.  It’s already been centuries since the war for you, love.  We can’t do this forever,” Rose interjected.

 

“Centuries?” Romana gasped.

 

“Right you are, Rose.  I have a theory, but I’ll need your team to get something from the archives for me, Romana.  Do you know where to find the Hand of Omega?” the Doctor asked.


	36. Time of the Doctor - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two... there's an extra note at the end of this chapter. I hope you like my choice ;)

_ “Right you are, Rose.  I have a theory, but I’ll need your team to get something from the archives for me, Romana.  Do you know where to find the Hand of Omega?” the Doctor asked. _

 

“What could you possibly use that for?” she questioned.

 

“What it was designed for.  You tell me, would that close the breach?” he replied.

 

“It wouldn’t just close the breach, Doctor, that would destroy Gallifrey,” she told him.

 

“Well, I thought I already did that centuries ago.  Might as well follow through.  Can you get it?” he requested.

 

“I think so,” she sighed.

 

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by another transmission from Gallifrey, transmitted in Galactic Standard so that all of the ships would understand.  _ “Greetings from Gallifrey.  I am Rassilon, President of the Time Lords.  We have been forced out of your universe by the Doctor.  It is our goal to return and restore balance to the web of time.  To do this, we require the true name of the Doctor.  The ones to acquire this information for us will be considered close allies and given technology beyond your wildest dreams.” _

 

“Well, guess they all know why they’re here now,” Clara commented.

 

“Right, we need to find a way to get Romana and her team out of there as soon as they have that hand thing,” Rose decided.

 

“Yes, best get the TARDIS moved closer to the breach and I can work on connecting one of those Vortex Manipulators into the ship’s computer.  She can use it to create a teleport to pull them through.  I don’t want to fly her over there if I can help it,” the Doctor told them, activating the controls that would move the ship next to the spatial disturbance nearby.

 

A new transmission from the Church of the Papal Mainframe made an announcement to everyone in range.  _ “Attention. Attention all Chapels and Choirs of the Papal Mainframe. The siege of Trenzalore is now begun. There will now be an unscheduled faith change. From this moment on, I dedicate this church to one cause. Silence. The Doctor will not speak his name, and the Time War will not start anew. Silence will fall!” _

 

“Guess we know how all that started now,” Rose commented.

 

“That’s one hell of a time loop,” Jack realized.

 

“I don’t understand,” Clara said confusedly.

 

“Your mother, dear.  They kidnapped your gran Amy, so that they could manipulate your mother’s life to make her try to kill the Doctor and me.  We never knew why, but it’s because of now.  It all starts here,” Rose explained.

 

“Romana? Come in Romana,” the Doctor called once they were in position.

 

“Yes, Doctor. I’m here.”

 

“How long do you need?” he asked.

 

“Give us thirty minutes,” she replied.

 

“Got it.  You’ll all need to be in a three metre radius for me to transport all of you,” he warned.

 

“Message received.”

 

“Clara, may I borrow your Vortex Manipulator once again?” the Doctor requested politely.

 

“Will I get it back in one piece? The last time you tinkered with it, I had to spend a week putting it back the way it was,” she complained, but handed him the device.

 

“No promises,” he mumbled as he started to connect it to the TARDIS console.

 

Rose wondered exactly what it was that this Hand of Omega would do. Romana seemed quite worried about using it for whatever he had in mind, but her husband had always told her that Romana was brilliant and she did agree that the plan would work.

 

Outside of the TARDIS, they could hear the attacks from the orbiting ships.  It was odd that they would attack the settlement with energy weapons directly if they wanted information from him.  They couldn’t very well get him to talk if he was dead.  Checking the scanners though, they realized that it was the Dalek ships that were attacking.

 

“They don’t want Gallifrey to come back either,” Rose said, looking over his shoulder.

 

“Well, if the Time Lords are forever stopped from coming back, then the Daleks officially won the Time War.  Killing us would be a bonus as far as they’re concerned,” he agreed.

 

“I thought their memory was wiped of our existence?” Rose questioned.

 

“How did you manage that?” Clara wondered.

 

“Oh, well, we met a very bright young lady.  She managed to hack into their Path Web and delete all information about us.  But, I believe that is in their future, even if it’s our past.  There is also the possibility that they could regain some of that information by assimilating the computer systems of other ships or computers.  Remember how the Cybermen used the Daleks’ technology when Jamie was a baby?” the Doctor explained, reminding Rose that it was probably Clara in the future that had done that for them.  Aria seemed to have her own TARDIS on the Dalek Asylum and knew exactly how to deal with the Dalek computer systems.

 

“Ok, so they are all fighting out there, is there anything we can do to protect the people living here while we work on this?” Jack wondered.

 

“I can try to extend our extrapolator shielding like we did on the Game Station, but I’m not sure if I can cover the whole town,” Rose suggested.

 

“We could go out and try to get all of the people closer.  Not sure they’ll listen to us,” Clara said.

 

“Will your teleport still work if we do that, Doctor?” Jack questioned.

 

“Hmm? Oh, yes, yes.  The breach would be inside the shield.  Shouldn’t affect it at all,” he replied distractedly.

 

Rose got to work on the extrapolator controls.  With Jack’s help, they managed to cover most of the town.  They just needed to make sure as many as possible were inside.  Rose set up her sonic to enable her to open sections of the shield temporarily as they brought people through.

 

“Alright, Jack, Clara, you’re with me.  Doctor, listen for your friend’s call,” Rose ordered, taking control of the situation.

 

“Be careful out there.  We don’t know if any hostiles were in the area before you put up the shield,” the Doctor warned.

 

“Don’t worry, Doctor, I’m on it,” Jack assured him, taking out his blaster.  Clara pulled hers out as well.  They never liked to resort to that kind of thing, but they were entering a battle ground and had to be ready for anything.

 

The trio of Rose, Jack, and Clara circled the edge of the shielded area, letting people through to safety and explaining as best they could about the danger.  Telling them that there was a dangerous hole on their planet that was attracting evil people seemed to work.  They assured the native people that they would protect them as long as they stayed inside the shield and were working on closing the hole so that no one would bother them again.  They froze in their tracks when they saw a very familiar face on the other side of the shield, held at gun point.

 

“Jamie!” Rose cried.

 

“Hold your position,” the cyberman behind him ordered.  “You are the Abomination.  You will give us the information that is required.  You will give the cybermen the name of the Doctor.”

 

“Mum, you can’t,” Jamie insisted despite his position.

 

“You let my father go this instant,” Clara shouted, pointing her blaster at his captor threateningly.

 

“There is an energy barrier between us.  Your weapon is no danger to this unit,” it replied.

 

“I could lower the shield with the press of one button,” Rose informed it.

 

“And allow us to destroy everyone inside,” the cyberman replied, prompting a small army of them to march up behind it.

 

“How did you even know about Jamie? Where’s River?” Rose demanded, her sonic ready to open a hole in the shield, but not activating it yet.

 

“It is known that the Doctor feels strong emotions with regard to the Abomination.  Research revealed several familial relations that could be used.  It was decided that this one would be the most meaningful to both of you,” it explained.

 

“She was visiting her parents.  I was by myself when they found me,” Jamie assured his mother.  They would have to retrieve his TARDIS later, but since the two were connected, it wouldn’t be impossible.

 

“Right, look, he does mean a lot to us.  To me, to the Doctor, to the people right here.  But I can’t tell you the Doctor’s name, even if I wanted to,” Rose responded.

 

“Then this person is useless,” it said harshly, immediately firing its weapon at point blank range.

 

Jamie screamed as he fell to his knees in front of the group of cybermen, but almost immediately, a haze of golden energy began to surround him.  His eyes locked with his mother’s and she nodded to him in assurance that she would make sure that he was alright.  The sudden blast of regeneration energy pushed all of the cybermen back from where they had been facing off through the shield, giving them the perfect chance to get through and retrieve him.  The instant that the opening was made, Clara and Jack ran to pick him up from the snow covered ground.  Turning back to return to the safety of the extrapolator shielding, the cybermen began to fire on them.  Jack was hit in the back, tumbling to the ground halfway through the shield, but Rose quickly dragged him through the rest of the way before reinstating their protection.  Clara stumbled with her father when Jack fell, but managed to keep moving.  Jamie was disoriented and stumbling, but not unconscious.

 

_ “Rose, what’s happening?” _ the Doctor asked urgently from the TARDIS.

 

_ “A group of cybermen kidnapped Jamie and brought him here as a threat.  He just regenerated, but we got everyone back on this side of the shield.  We’re bringing him back to the TARDIS now,” _ she answered while urging the now revived Jack to run back with them.

 

“We need to get back to the TARDIS.  We’ve helped as many as we can right now.  And Jamie, your father is going to be insanely jealous,” Rose told them as they ran.

 

“Jealous? Why? Oh, my voice is quite different isn’t it?” he replied.

 

Rose only smirked in response and pulled out her key to open the door for them.  Clara was still helping to support her father as he got used to his new form and regained his strength.

 

“Is everyone-? Oh, that’s not fair!” the Doctor shouted when he saw them enter the console room.

 

“What’s not fair?” Clara wondered.

 

“I never get to be ginger and he gets it his first time!” the Doctor pouted as he looked over his son’s new appearance.  He was indeed very ginger, his freckles becoming even more pronounced than before.  He also looked very young, possibly even widening the apparent age gap between him and River.  He was a bit shorter than before and, while not heavier, his shoulders seemed slightly broader, making his clothing fit differently.

 

“Am I ginger? Brilliant!  I hope River likes it,” Jamie said with a smile.

 

“Enough of that for now.  Any word from Romana, Doctor?” Rose interrupted.

 

“Not just yet.  Our extrapolator shielding seems to be holding everyone back for now,” he answered, flipping a few switches as he studied the monitor.

 

“I hope no one else got the bright idea to abduct my family to pressure us into talking,” Rose mumbled worriedly.

 

“Don’t worry, Rosie.  Your mum is with the entire Torchwood team and Amy and Rory have River with them.  Now, what does this thing you asked your friend to get actually do, Doctor?” Jack wondered.

 

“Originally, it took a collapsing star and contained it inside of Gallifrey as the Eye of Harmony to be the power source for everything the Time Lords did.  The plan is to use the Hand of Omega now to remove the Eye from Gallifrey and place it into another planet in this universe.  As Romana pointed out, that will likely destroy Gallifrey and the bubble universe along with it.  This is extremely dangerous, but hopefully better than the destruction of the entire universe,” the Doctor rambled.

 

Before anyone on the TARDIS could respond to his explanation, there was a beeping sound indicating an incoming transmission.

 

_ “Doctor, we’re ready.  I hope you know what you’re doing,” _ Romana called.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the new actor for Jamie in my mind is Rupert Grint, just so you know.


	37. Time of the Doctor - Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, this is not the end of the series, just the end of this story. New season, new story... I'm already working on Deep Breath and it's gonna be good, I think. Comments are always appreciated.

In a flash of light, the Doctor disappeared from the console room.

 

_ “Where are you?”  _ Rose questioned frantically in his mind.

 

_ “On Gallifrey, just be a moment,”  _ he replied, but the answer didn't calm her in the least.

 

Another bright flash had fifteen new people materialize in the room, all looking like they had been through hell and back.

 

“Is everyone alright? Anyone injured?” Rose questioned before making any introductions. One of the men nodded toward the woman he was supporting and Rose instructed, “Jack, could you show them to the medbay, please?”

 

“On it, Rosie,” he replied and led a few soldiers off through the hallway.

 

“I'm Rose, the Doctor's wife. This is Jamie, our son, and his daughter, Clara. Jack, that just left is a friend of ours,” Rose told the remaining people.  “Anyone know exactly what he is doing right now? He had better not get himself trapped on the wrong side when the bad things happen.”

 

“The Hand of Omega needed to be activated on that side of the breach before bringing it here.  He should be on this side shortly,” Romana replied.

 

“If I know my husband, he’ll take the timing down to the wire,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “Do we need to fly to some other planet or something?”

 

“I'm afraid it may have to be the planet that we are on. Is that a problem?” Romana answered.

 

“Well, there is an indigenous population, but it's small. Will it hurt them?” Rose wondered.

 

With a shrug, Romana said, “Not if they don't mind becoming Time Lords due to their prolonged exposure to the Vortex.”

 

“Could we relocate them after if they don't want that?” Jamie suggested.  That was basically what had happened to River.  It was not a horrible fate, but these people were not even familiar with space travel.

 

Their conversation was halted by a sudden rumbling noise outside and a thump against the doors.  Rose and Romana ran to open them and the Doctor stumbled inside.  They could hear from the TARDIS’ monitoring that the transmissions from Gallifrey had ceased, but closed the doors again, just in case there were still any hostiles around.

 

“Doctor! It's alright, love, I've got you,” Rose assured him, sitting down on the floor with his head in her lap.

 

“It's done,” he gasped, though he was clearly in pain.

 

“What’ve you done to yourself this time?” Rose asked, tears starting to form in her eyes as she realized what this likely meant.

 

“It was a bit too much for me, I'm afraid.  I managed to get the Eye of Harmony safely into the centre of Trenzalore, but the Hand of Omega has a sentience of its own. It didn't go back into its box happily,” he admitted. “Think I can be ginger too?” 

 

“I'll love you no matter what you look like. You know that,” she whispered, pressing her forehead against his.

 

“Best move back then.  You know how this goes,” the Doctor warned.

 

He looked around the room as he struggled to his feet. His wife, son, and granddaughter stood nearby. Jack had just returned and watched as the golden light started to shimmer over his skin. Romana gave him a small smile and his mother mouthed, “Thank you.”

 

In a quick burst of golden light, the Doctor changed from the young, gangly, professor appearance to that of a distinguished, older gentleman.  He instantly locked his gaze with Rose, as if unsure of exactly what he was seeing. He doubled over in pain for a moment and gasped, “Kidneys! I've got new kidneys. I don't like the colour.”

 

“Of your kidneys?” Clara asked.

 

“At least he didn't ask about his hair,” Jamie mumbled raising an eyebrow at his father’s now very grey hair.

 

“Doctor? Are you alright?” Rose questioned worriedly, she felt nothing but confusion from him.  His last regeneration was a bit chaotic, but nothing like this.

 

“Do I need a Doctor? Who’s a doctor? You’re the pink and yellow one.  You usually take care of me.  I don’t want a doctor,” he rambled, wandering over to Rose’s side and taking her hand to examine her fingers more closely.

 

“What’s wrong with dad?” Jamie asked.

 

“He’s just a bit disoriented from his regeneration.  Most Time Lords spend their time on Gallifrey, close to the Eye of Harmony, but the Doctor hardly ever came home.  It meant that most of his regenerations were somewhat chaotic for him,” Romana explained.

 

“Well, this is the third one that I’ve been with him for and he’s never been quite this confused,” Rose argued, running her fingers through his hair as he continued studying her other hand.  He closed his eyes at the contact and practically purred.

 

“No, why, why are you all doing that? Why are you? You're all going dark and wobbly. Stop that,” the Doctor grumbled.

 

“I don't think we are,” Clara told him.

 

“It’ll be alright, love,” Rose assured him as he looked at everyone a bit dazedly.

 

“Never mind. Everyone take five,” he told them, waving his hand dismissively, then fell to the floor.

 

“Blimey.  Ok, Jack, Jamie, help me carry him back to our room,” Rose instructed.

 

“Perhaps it might be better to take him to the zero room instead?” his mother suggested.

 

“Haven’t heard that one mentioned before.  Jamie, you’ve read the manuals more than I have and far more than your father has,” Rose commented, earning a chuckle from Romana.  “Do we have a zero room?”

 

“Yes, just a minute,” her son sighed and went to the controls to bring the long forgotten room closer.  “He hasn’t used it in centuries, but it’s here.”

 

“Right.  You two get him in there, while I go make some tea for everyone.  Then, we can figure out what to do about that Eye of Harmony thing, go pick up your TARDIS from wherever the Cybermen have stashed it, and get back to my family for Christmas,” Rose instructed.  “How are you feeling, Jamie? You just regenerated too.”

 

“I’m very aware of that, mother,” he grumbled petulantly. “Maybe I’ll hang out with dad for a bit while my head clears.  Clara, could you call your mum please?  Let her know what’s going on?”

 

After making several pots of tea for all of their guests, as well as the Doctor and Jamie, who were napping in the zero room, Rose retrieved her son’s TARDIS and picked up River and her parents.  There was a brief discussion with Romana as to where they would like to go, and they decided to stay on Trenzalore.  They needed to discuss with the native population how they would like to handle the refugees and the new status of their planet as a centre for keeping balance over the web of time. 

 

Clara suggested returning to Cardiff for Christmas while they waited and Rose decided that would probably be best.  The turkey that Clara had brought on board was ready, of course, and it might be best to warn everyone of Jamie and the Doctor’s regenerations before they joined the party.

 

“What did that idiot martian do this time?” Donna asked.

 

“As best I understand it, he moved a collapsing star from the centre of Gallifrey into another planet to stop the Time War once and for all by destroying the planet even more completely than he thought he did before I met him,” Rose explained.

 

“How’d he do that then? Don’t tell me he just ran in there and grabbed it or something,” Donna questioned.

 

“Dunno exactly.  He had some kind of thing from Gallifrey called the Hand of Omega,” she replied with a shrug.

 

“Wierdo.  So, don’t suppose he’s better looking now? That chin was something else,” Donna wondered.

 

Rose rolled her eyes.  She had been with the Doctor for centuries and through three bodies already.  Her love wasn’t dependent on his looks.  “He’s older looking actually.  Scottish, but it’s hard to say beyond that just yet.  He was terribly confused after it happened.  Didn’t even remember who he was, let alone anyone else.  Called me the pink and yellow one.”

 

“Older? What you want with a man that looks old, Rose?” Jackie sneered.

 

“He’s my husband, mum.  He’s been my husband for over three hundred years, or have you forgotten how old I am again?” she responded through clenched teeth.  Rose had forgiven her mother, but was still hurt by her near constant lack of understanding with regards to their lives.

 

They all sat down at the large dining table for dinner, minus the sleeping Doctor and Jamie.  Clara brought her turkey to the table with a wink to her gran Rose and the rest of the family cheered the dinner she had made.  Everything was lovely until Rose got a rather frantic telepathic call from her son,  _ “Mum, dad isn’t in the zero room.  I just woke up and he’s not here.  The TARDIS seems a bit worried to me.” _

 

The rest of whatever Jamie had to say was cut off as the TARDIS suddenly dematerialized from where they were.

 

“Oh my god! River, please tell me you still have your vortex manipulator and that it can lock onto the TARDIS,” Rose demanded as she stood up from the table.

 

“Of course, Rose.  What’s going on? Where’s James?” River questioned, following her to the door.

 

“That idiot husband of mine just flew off somewhere, probably still not completely recovered.  Jamie woke up and contacted me just before the TARDIS left,” she explained as she headed outside to where the ship had been parked.  She could feel that they were gone, but felt it was best to discuss the plan away from her family, and there was the possibility that Jamie would take over and bring them straight back.

 

“Well, we’d best follow them and see what we can do,” River sighed as she strapped on her vortex manipulator and started programming it to lock onto the Doctor’s TARDIS.  Hers was still docked inside the other one, so they couldn’t use the ship to follow them.

 

“Can I come too, mum?” Clara asked as she caught up with them.

 

“Sure, sweetie.  Let’s go,” River said, holding the device out so they could put their hands on it.

  
In a flash, they found themselves standing outside the TARDIS, in what looked like Victorian London.  That was questionable however, due to the existence of a large tyrannosaurus rex nearby.


End file.
